Fitz stood outside the metal doors surrounded by prison security with the warden headed towards him.
"General." The warden said as he stretched his hand out to Fitz and shook it.
"Hans," Fitz said with a smile.
The warden gave Fitz a slight embraced and then stepped back.
"We have her secured, take as much time as you need and just give the door a knock when you're done."
"Great," Fitz said with a smile.
The prison guards opened the large metal door and allowed Fitz inside. When Fitz entered the room he looked for cameras, all four corners of the room were bare, there was no camera like Hans had promised. Her name on her jumpsuit said "Filipovic" which he smirked at. He was sure she wasn't very fond of her new identity. He told everyone she was dead and well...why not..locking her away to rot while she consumed herself with hate for him and Olivia seemed like a much more fitting punishment than death. It was so final.
The room was empty except for a small square metal table with a chair on both sides. On the side opposite to him, sat Mellie, in a grey prison uniform, with both hands shackled to the metal table.
Fitz walked over and sat in front of her with his hands under the table. Mellie didn't speak, she just stared at him. She looked older. It had been less than 2 years since he last saw her but she looked about a decade older, she was wrinkled now, with few gray hairs. Her lips were pressed tightly into a line.
"Why are you here?"
"I came to see how you were doing...not too great, I'm guessing." He said with a light chuckle. "By the looks of it."
Mellie shook her head.
"I'm gonna get out of here, I can promise you that and when I do, even if I have to use my last breath, I'm going to kill you or I'm going to die trying."
"You already tried. How did that work out for you?"
"I never wanted to kill you, Jake did."
"Is that why you helped him...because you didn't want to kill me?"
Mellie shook her head. "Even after all this time..you still don't get it….it's not about you, it was about her."
Fitz shrugged. "Almost two years in here and still, you're obsessed with her which...okay... Fine... I'm obsessed too but I have a completely different reason."
"Two years wasting my life away on false charges what else can I do but be obsessed."
"So you didn't kill deltas, that's not why you're in here?"
"If that's why I'm in here, why didn't I get a trial, why didn't the U.S military take custody of me."
"That would've been...messy, we don't need to go through all of that, I think you're right where you need to be. You look like you were born to wear that jumpsuit."
"If the government knew the kinds of things you did, the kinds of things we did, you'd be right here with me and that's why you didn't give me to the military."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. I don't do anything that I know I can't get away with. You will be here for as long as I want you in here..although, depending on how you answer the next few questions, it could be just a few more days or maybe months or decades, it's really up to you."
Mellie stared at him for a few seconds, her eyes were stone cold.
"What do you want to know?"
Fitz placed his right ringless hand the table and leaned forward.
"Did Akio know about Jake's plans?"
Mellie smiled deviously at the realization of what his visit was about.
"Can't trust anyone, can you?"
Fitz shrugged. "I have a very short list. Come to think about it, I wouldn't even call it a list."
"Why should I believe you'll let me go? When I get out I could just tell everyone what happened."
"Is that really what you want to say right now," Fitz said stone-faced.
Mellie sighed.
"I used to love you, so much and now I look back and think about how stupid I was." She cleared her throat. "Fighting for someone who didn't give a damn about me landed me here."
"That was your choice, I made it pretty clear where we stood from the beginning, now are you gonna tell me what I asked or do you want to spend the rest of the day jogging down memory lane."
Mellie sighed and then smiled. "I'm not telling you anything. I hope when they kill you, you burn in hell."
"It doesn't matter, he's dead either way but I just wanted a clean conscience after I did it. I guess that won't be happening."
"Conscience? That word should not pass your lips. You have none."
Fitz texted his guys outside and seconds later, the four men walked into the room with rope and tape.
Mellie stood quickly, wondering what was gone on but within seconds, she was surrounded with two men forcing her against the chair and another two tying her down with ropes as she resisted. When she was completely bound to the chair, they taped her mouth and then made a small slit over her lips, big enough for her to be fed through.
Fitz pulled out a small item, wrapped in foil from the front pocket of his hoodie with a little plastic fork.
"I've got it from here." He said to the men.
They took off and closed the door.
Fitz sat in front of Mellie on the table and opened up the foil paper.
"Know you know I wouldn't come here without a gift for you. This time, it's from our wedding party."
He took the spoon and scooped up and a piece of his and Olivia's cold wedding cake he'd stored in the fridge for weeks and jammed it into her mouth.
She tired spitting it out but she pinched her nose closed so she couldn't breathe and held it until she was forced to swallow. He continued jamming the cake into her mouth until she threw up.
He was getting a perverse amount on pleasure from force feeding her so he continued even after she puked and fed her until the last bit of wedding cake was finished and then he stood. It was petty and stupid, but he died laughing the entire time.
"I'll tell my wife you said hi."
He walked over to the door and banged on the metal twice and the door opened immediately.
The warden was close by, speaking with some of the armed men and few lieutenants. Fitz walked over.
"General, I take it you took care of all your business."
"All but one." Fitz turned, "walk with me, we'll discuss."
The warden followed behind him down the hallway.
"What can I do for you?" Hans asked.
"I want you to put her in the solitary for a few months."
Hans chuckled. "Will do."
"Good."
Fitz shook his hand.
"Thanks again, let me know if any problems arise."
Fitz was escorted out to the entrance of the prison facility. His squad of guards waited for him. He'd found himself in Germany for three days, attending the NATO summit, as was his duty. The summit was usually uneventful, and his in opinion, unnecessary for him to attend but all the same, it was his duty.
Olivia sat on the floor in Erin's new room, which was further down the hall. They'd had the handyman, move her personal belonging during the day while they were away and now they were packing Erin's things for their trip to New York. They'd had a test of sorts, Olivia yelled from her bedroom which was now on the other end of the hallway and Erin still heard her faintly, which she decided might now be the worst thing, if ever she was calling for help, she knew someone at least on the top floor of her house would hear her.
Lily crawled around, messing up all each pile of clothes they gathered each time they added a new item.
As they sat going over outfit options and chatting about their upcoming trip to New York, Olivia's phone rang.
She looked down at her screen and as she'd suspected, it was Fitz.
"One sec Er." Olivia said as she answered the phone. "Hey, Fitz."
"It's okay, go talk to your boo, I'm gonna fold this up and go grab a shower."
Olivia chuckled, "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow- come on Lily." Olivia stretched her arms to Lily and Lily stumbled over and threw herself into her mother's arms.
"Mama." Lily said softly.
Olivia kissed her. "Yes, sweetie, it's time for bed."
"Olivia?" Fitz called through the phone.
"Yes, yes, I'm here - Bye Er." Olivia walked through the door and closed it behind her. "Fitz I'm all yours now."
"What's going on? Are you busy?" He asked.
"No, I was just leaving Erin room, remember I told you I was going to have it switched to a room further down the hall after what happened."
"When I had you screaming, you mean."
Olivia rolled her eyes. "Oh shut it. It wasn't that bad."
"Ahhhhhhh." Fitz screamed, mimicking her.
Olivia had arrived at her bedroom and shut the door behind her.
"Please, that sounds better than you."
She sat on the edge of her bed and sat Lily beside her.
"Ugh-ugh-ugh- like a fucking gorilla."
Fitz chuckled on the other end of the line.
"Are you still in Germany?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm back after my confab with the moron we call the president."
"Does he know we're married? I expect not, right?"
"No, he doesn't know, doesn't need to know."
She climbed to the middle of the bed and cuddled Lily but Lily wiggled from her arms and sat up.
"How's my girl?" Fitz asked, wanting to change the conversation.
Lily was energetic, for that late in the night, which was unusual for her, she was very good with bedtime but lately, she had a little more energy before bed. A few times this week Olivia fell asleep with Lily awake in her arms.
"She's full of energy and it's bedtime so..."
"Wait, let me facetime you."
Olivia moved the phone from her ear and waited for the video call then picked up when it came through.
"Hello, angel." Fitz said.
Olivia blushed and smiled and pulled Lily closer so he could see her.
"Hi babygirl, it's dada. Mommy's tired, are you gonna go to bed so mommy can sleep too?"
Lily chuckled and it was the sweetest sound to him.
"Oh shit," He said, laughing. "You know what that means."
"It means I'll fall asleep with her still awake, that's what it means." Olivia joked.
"You need another nanny, a live-in nanny so she can help you during the night and morning before Sonia comes."
"And when I have a 2 full time nannies and a part time nanny when exactly do I get a chance to parent my baby."
"Point taken but thet're not parenting for you, just helping out. I grew up with three nannies and I still felt like my mom was a decent mom to me before she died."
"I don't know, I just don't think it's necessary for me, I love being up with her, I'm tired now from all the work at the office but after the show, it'll be back to normal."
"Yeah but...I don't know, I just think since I'm not there to sort of split the work with you it'll be good if you had some help."
"I totally understand but you don't need to worry...I mean single moms do way more work and they survive so I'm sure I'll be fine."
Fitz chuckled dryly. "You're a single mom now?"
"No. I didn't mean it like. You know I didn't."
"I know. I'm just tired, this time difference is fucking with me. It's after 3 and I can't sleep at all."
"What time do you have to be up?" Olivia asked.
Lily grabbed the phone from Olivia and stared at the screen, drooling and smiling.
"Hey, little lady."
Olivia chuckled and took back her phone.
"What time do you have to be up?"
"6"
"Go to bed, you need rest, call me tomorrow. Love you,"
"No-wait-"
Olivia hung up and chuckled.
Fitz chuckled and rested his phone on the hotel nightstand. He couldn't wait to see them both. As much as he was tired, he didn't sleep and when his alarm chimed at 6am, he got up and prepared for his day. He showered brushed his teeth and dressed in his dark navy uniform adorned in medals and stars.
His security team escorted him from his room down to the car waiting and dropped him to the pavillion. He had to attend a few hours of meetings, none of which were of any real substance or importance, it was mostly a dog and pony show. It was a few hours before he actually able to meet with the president.
"Fitz!" The president called excitedly as he walked towards him with a squad of secret service.
"Mr. President." Fitz returned flatly.
They shook hands.
"Come on." The president turned to the closed door of the meeting room. It was to be a private meeting, which Fitz had already had his radars up about that. "He have a lot to talk about."
The secret service opened the door and they both entered and got seated.
"You look tired." The president said.
"Well, we have a lot of enemies. Mr. President." Fitz replied.
"I'm really glad you said that," He said with a chuckle. "And I'm glad we have you back but-"
"My father used to say everything someone says before the word 'but' is horseshit." Fitz interjected.
The president chuckled.
"-But I think you're a very talented man. You're doing great work with the deltas I think you'd do way better in work in Washington."
"Why is that?"
"You're tough, you're not soft or a pushover, I need someone like you in my administration."
"Doing what, exactly?"
"Secretary of defense. The american people would sleep well, knowing they are protected, with you as defense secretary."
"They should be sleeping well right now."
"But they need to see you, you made quite a splash with that hearing in the senate, you didn't back down."
"At 33, I'd be the youngest defense secretary ever."
"You're also the youngest commander of the deltas ever. You're a maverick."
"No. It wouldn't be a good fit for me- mr. President."
"It wasn't a question-"
"-it was and I'm declining."
The president shook his head.
"Every bit your father's son, aren't you?"
Fitz didn't answer.
"Okay, I guess this brings us to our second order of business. Since you've declined my offer for defense secretary, I'm gonna need the deltas to take on a more public role."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah.. I think it's time to really get out there. The world saw you guys in action in New York-"
"I'm gonna stop you there Mr. president, as long as I'm running the deltas, this is not gonna happen. It's a ridiculous idea that will put my men and women in harm's way and if you'd given any thought to that fact, you'd never brought it up."
The president was taken aback.
"Who do you think you're talking to son. I'm the president, you're a soldier-"
"No, you're a politician worried about your legacy, with all the investigations congress has open on you, you need a shiny little object to distract from your failure as a leader."
Fitz stood.
"Find another shiny object, as long as I'm head of the deltas, this is not happening."
"It is happening."
"It is not." Fitz said calmly. "You can always find someone to replace me, I'll be happy to be back home, instead of trekking around the world cleaning up the mess of your foreign policy."
Fitz nodded and stood then headed towards the door.
"Oh...is there anything else you needed?" Fit asked.
"No. Get out." He responded.
Fitz shrugged and opened the door.
"Fitz?'
Fitz turned around.
"Did you guys ever take care of Olivia Pope? I know about the father but did you take care of her?"
"Sure did." Fitz said with a dry smile and turned out of the room.
It was midday in Los Angeles, Olivia and her team had spent the day thus far, organizing and packing all the pieces from her line to the shipped to New York. She arranged for Fitz's company pilot to fly them to New York on his private jet and now they were just getting the final details combed through so that when they left in tomorrow afternoon, there would be nothing left behind. Erin had been functioning somewhat as her assistant for the past few weeks, which she was thankful for.
At 3, she took an hour to take Lily to mommy and me class, Sonia had offered to go alone many times but she still didn't feel comfortable having Lily out of sight and she was glad for a fun hour with Lily, especially since work was so hectic with her first ever show coming up.
After mommy and me she went back to her studio to work for a few more hours and then she headed home to finish her packing. Sonia had agreed to accompany them for their trip, for which she was grateful. In the night, she chatted with Fitz as she cuddled Lily to sleep and then she fell asleep as well.
The next morning, she woke early and bathed herself and Lily and dressed for their trip. Her team arrived at her home in small groups at a time starting at 10am, which is the time they'd agreed on. It was almost 10:30 when all 14 members of her team arrived at her home. Her chef had prepared a large breakfast for a everyone. They sat together in her large dining room, eating and chatting and by noon, they'd headed off to the airport to board their plane to New York.
Fitz stood across the platform, watching delta teams 1 and 2 run practice exercises.
"Abby." He called loudly.
She stopped her exercise and jogged over to him.
"What's up?"
"Walk with me."
He stepped off and Abby followed him.
"I want to bring you into the fold."
"What do you mean?" Abby asked.
"We have 30% of our forces that a women but we have no women in leadership roles here, I wanna change that so from now on I want you apart of the team, right there by Akio, Huck and Anton."
Abby was surprised.
"That's great. Are you sure?"
"Is there someone else more qualified that you'd like to recommend?"
"Uhh..no."
"Okay...well get back to work."
Abby nodded and headed back to where she'd been before.
Fitz watched them for a while longer and then he called out for them to take a break. He went back to his office.
After about a half hour, Huck, Akio, Anton and Abby met with him for their daily meeting. They did another run through of their plan for the mission and after a 20 minutes, they broke for the afternoon to gather again in a few hours to begin preparing for their mission.
At 4pm, they got their protective gear on and assembled on the lower deck to board the jet. It was a 5 hour flight to where they were headed.
It had been two weeks since he last visited Olivia and one week still, until he could see her and Lily again. He felt like he was just going through the motions. He barely been able to get full nights of sleep or even half night of sleep. His body was still getting used to the time difference, especially since he'd been travelling so much, back and forth on missions and meetings. Everytime he fell asleep, it didn't last more than a couple hours because he was so terrified even the slightest thing would happen to them, especially since their daytime was his nighttime and if anything happened it would most likely be during the day and it was driving him mad. He had her and Lily under extreme surveillance, he'd even bugged her phone and whenever he had free time he'd sit and listen to her work, sometimes the sound was muffled or faraway but other times it was clear and he could hear everything, not that she spoke anything that was very interesting, she mostly worked for the last couple of weeks.
During the 5 hour flight, he listened to her and lily sleep. When they were minutes away from their destination, there were awake and getting ready.
He cut the feed so he could focus. The mission was a raid on an off-site government nuclear facility where nuclear weapons were being tested. Their objective was to destroy the machine and weapons and kill the scientists. It was heavily guarded but they were in and out of the compound in 10 minutes
He'd made one mistake, one irreversible one with untold consequences. Akio was in harms way- and he hesitated before helping him- and Akio definitely picked up on it which made things more complicated now. He played it off, as if he hadn't hesitated on purpose and likewise Akio acted as if his hesitation meant nothing but it meant everything. In their line of work, you don't hesitate before helping a brother. That was a no-no.
When Olivia woke in the early in the morning and began her day. She'd rented the penthouse suite at the plaza along with about 8 other room were she'd paired up her team into double rooms. The one person who got single rooms were Sonia and Erin. With all the fees, taxes, morning breakfasts and ammetinities she was paying for, her tab for over a week stay would be almost $200,000 which to her and Fitz, was nothing. She would have stayed at her apartment but for logistical purposes, it was just easier to be with her team at the hotel, it also didn't hurt that they would be holding the fashion show at the Plaza grand ballroom.
She showered and got dressed before Lily woke around 7:30. She didn't call Fitz, he'd told her he'd be going on a mission and probably wouldn't be able to speak with her until midnight or later his time which was 9am her time. She bathed Lily and dressed her before breakfast was delivered at 8am.
She met with her team at 9 and on her way to their meeting. She'd also rented a conference room in the Plaza and had it converted to a simple work space but for her first order of business of the day, she need to travel to the meeting.
They split up in teams, with her design and style team staying behind to work on the garments, another team worked with hotel staff to begin the planning for the event in the ballroom, while everyone else followed Olivia to her meeting with the production team. Later on at the hotel, they'd meet with makeup artists, hairstylist and a casting director the help with booking the models.
As they were driving to their first location, Fitz called.
"Baby, hey."
"What's up?"
He sounded tired.
"Are you okay? You sound tired or like you were sleeping or something."
"I'm tired but I cannot sleep."
"Why not?"
"I don't know."
"You know what you need? Some really boring books, once this craziness is over I'm gonna go on the hunt and find you some, it'll be lights out for you after just a few pages."
He chuckled and rolled his eyes.
"We'll see."
"Lily right here, one sec."
Olivia placed the phone by Lily's ear and let her mumble into the phone for a few seconds before she took it back.
"Hey, I wasn't done." Fitz complained.
"Oh yeah, what was she saying?"
"She was about to tell me you were cheating on me but your trying to cover it up, which explains why you took the phone. It's a conspiracy."
She chuckled.
"I miss you so much, I'm dying. Rescue me."
"No, I need you to rescue me from this fucking shithole."
"Well, I have big plans for us when you come back."
"You've piqued my interest."
"Stop." She covered her mouth and brought the phone closer to her mouth. "I can't dirty talk in front of my employees."
"You can, you sure can."
"I can't."
"Not unless I'm eager for a lawsuit."
Fitz sighed. "It's fine. I'll just masterbate to that picture you sent me the other day. It was so hot."
Olivia chuckled.
"Shut up."
"That booty looked excellenté!"
"Yeah, I mean..I think it looks the same but I've been stress eating and everything goes to my ass, which I guess is a good thing for both of us."
"It might look the same but at this point, a peach looks like good ass to me."
Sonia looked over to her, almost scolding her from across Lily's car seat.
"I have to go. Sonia's giving me judgy eyes."
Sonia looked at her again, obviously hearing their entire conversation.
"No. She works for us and not the other way around."
"Yes but still, I have to go. I'll talk to you later."
"No- don't go - I can't sleep."
"Okay fine, we'll text instead. Hang up."
She texted him as they drove and after a couple of hours when she texted him and he didn't respond she knew he was sleeping.
Half way through the work day she went back to her hotel and finished all her meeting and business calls from there.
Days went by, Olivia lost herself in her work and Fitz lost himself counting the days until he got to see her and Lily. He would only be able to stay for a couple of days and then he'd be off again.
She was up from 4:30am on the day of the show, along with Erin and a few of her other key team members. She'd had months and months to prepare and somehow in the last few days there seem to not ever be enough time to get anything done.
They spent the early morning going over all the looks and forming the lineup of models. By 6am, everyone was up, Olivia showered and got her hair and nails done by one of the stylists, before Lily woke a little after 7am. Sonia took over bathing and feeding her as she'd been doing most of the week since Olivia was so busy.
t wasn't until almost 10am, that she got on the phone with Fitz.
"What's up?" She said quickly, answering the call. She had a million things she was keeping track of all at once and the show was hours away.
"Don't be mad...but I won't be able to make it."
She chuckled sarcastically. "No is not the time for jokes Fitz, my anxiety is already at its peak and I can't right now."
"I'm on the plane, I'm joking, you know I wouldn't dare miss this."
"Good. Anyways no time for chit chat, I've got to go, Love you, bye my sweet."
"Okay lov-"
"Wait- what are you wearing?" Olivia asked quickly.
"Why? You tryna take them off?"
"No." She rolled her eyes. "Not yet..but what are you wearing I need to know."
"The same thing I always wear..black cargo pants and a hoodie."
"Okay, good, I was right, you're gonna need to change it, I have an outfit for you just make sure you change in our room before you come."
"Okay I-"
"Gotta go bye."
Olivia hung up without waiting for a response, she was too busy and even though she was excited to see him, she couldn't give him her attention just yet.. After another hour, the production team had finished setting up the runway, seating and backstage area. About 2 and a half hours out of the start time of the show, she went back to her room to begin dressing. Everyone from her team would be wearing white outfits, although Olivia would be wearing actual pieces from her collection. She chose a cream cotton corset mini dress that had covered buttons going up the middle. It was low cut but had puffy exaggerated sleeves that buttons down to her thumbs. When designing it she'd thought a little longer sleeve would be edgy and she loved how it came to life. It was something out of the victorian era only significantly more revealing, stopping just inches under her ass. She looked herself over in the mirror and it was perfect, She was perfect. Her hair was perfect. Her dress was perfect. Her makeup was perfect. Lily wore something of a matching dress that was appropriate for her size and age.
She tied a belt she made around her waist and slipped on her cream knee high heeled boots to match. She didn't have much time to linger. As soon as he was dressed and primped, she left back to the grand ballroom just as models, stylists, makeup artist and dressers began to arrive. The production company helped with the rehearsals of the show and after a quick run through the models all went back stage for hair and makeup which took another hour.
Fitz texted her and told her he'd soon be there which was another thing she was excited about.
There was so much chaos. In the midst of it all, she had a few interviews, mostly from fashion blogs and magazine but there was also the local new channel who must've taken an interest because of he attack, which was covered by the news. She didn't mind though, it was more publicity for her brand.
Fitz arrived at the Plaza hotel an hour before the show. He tried calling Olivia when he was in the lobby but she didn't answer so he headed to the penthouse
As they walked to his room, he turned to his guard. He'd turned off the feed from her phone a while before because there was too much noise and he couldn't distinguish her voice.
"Where's Olivia?"
"The grand ballroom."
"And my daughter?"
"In the penthouse with her aunt and nanny."
"Great."
When he walked into his room, the very first thing he saw was Lily hopping across the floor screaming happily.
"Lily?' He called.
"Da-da!"
He was floored.
"What?"
He ran to the middle of the room and picked her up and kissed her.
"You said it!" He turned to Erin and Sonia. "When did she learn to say it?"
"A week ago." Sonia said. "Olivia's been training her to say it everyday for a last two weeks before."
"Why didn't she tell me?" He said with a chuckle as he kissed Lily again. "Finally."
Lily laughed. He smiled when he saw her little outfit because she was so cute in her dress and cream colored cowboy boots,
"When are you going down?" he asked Erin.
"It's crazy down there right now so we're gonna go down about half hour before it starts."
"Okay, that's plenty of time for me to get ready."
He kissed Lily on more time and then stood her on the ground again.
"Lily, dada's gonna take a quick shower and be right back out to you."
He walked to their bedroom and closed the double door behind him. Before he stripped down his clothes he called room service and asked them to deliver a double bouquet of white roses to the room and took a shower and then dressed in the black slim fit dress pants, black turtleneck sweater and black boots Olivia had hung in the closet for him. She bought him a new Audemars Piguet platinum watch. It was excessive and he had about a 50 watches but appreciated it nonetheless. He combed his hair and in a little over 20 minutes, he was dressed and ready.
When he walked back to the living room of the penthouse, Erin and Sonia were still waiting for him. The roses were there as well. As he lifted Lily from the floor, his cell rang, it was Olivia.
"Hey, Angel."
"Please tell me you're here?"
"Yeah, we're actually heading down right now."
"Oh perfect! I can't wait to see you. Are you wearing the clothes I left?"
"Yeah. Is the show starting now cause I was thinking I could go to the kitchen and get a sandwich, I'm fucking starving."
"No, you don't have to. There's food backstage."
"Thank god. I'm coming now."
"Ok." Olivia said before hanging up.
They headed down to the grand ballroom to the backstage area where Olivia was. When Fitz walked through the door, Olivia was speaking to a camera crew.
She was so gorgeous. It was like seeing her for the very first time again. He was a little surprised that her hair color was different because the last time he shope with her it was the usual black color, now it was honey brown.
He stopped, not too far from her and listened.
"-Yeah, I was inspired by the victorian era - I've always been inspired by that era, the corsetry, the embroidery, the silhouettes and the attention to detail. I wanted my first collection to encompass all of that but I wanted to explore it in an a more minimal way that felt like me."
"Apart from where you drew your inspiration from, what do you want the feel of the collection to be? What was your goal there?"
"Timeless and well - for me- more importantly...sexy. You know, sex is a good thing and it's easy to feel sexy in something that extremely revealing. I didn't want to do that. My goal was to design something to that was a little more sophisticated in it's sexual appeal- so maybe a dress would be more high cut but a little shorter. I wanted to find a sweet spot."
Fitz turned his attention slightly from Olivia and looked around. It was a very chaotic. Lily tried to wiggle out of Fitz's arm to the ground but he stopped her and in response, she screamed.
Olivia heard Lily's scream and turned around and smiled when she saw them both. She shook the interviewers hand and told him she hoped like liked her collection and then walked over to Fitz and kissed him on the lips softly. When she stepped back from him the first thing she noticed was the bags under his eyes. He looked exhausted, even though he was smiling and alert.
"Wow. look at you. You look...beautiful."
She blushed. "Thanks. Are these flowers for me?" She said, referring to the flowers he was holding in one hand.
"No, they're for someone else. Obviously."
She chuckled and took them from him. "Thanks. It matches my dress."
Her hair was way longer than he remembered.
"Did your hair get longer...in three weeks?"
Olivia rolled her eyes.
"No. it's a wig but it looks great doesn't it."
"Yeah. It does but why wear a wig, you have a lot of hair."
"I just wanted to switch it up a little." She flipped her hair back playfully.
Just then, a couple of her assistants walked over.
"Liv, are you ready to start dressing the models. Guests are arriving and I know you wanted to make sure we start on time."
"Yeah. I'll be right there so ahead and get the dressers started."
She turned back to Fitz.
"So something pretty big happened upstairs."
"What?" Olivia asked.
"Lily said 'dada', I almost fell over."
"She did? Wow! That's great!"
"Yeah, she's never said it before and she just yelled it out as soon as she saw me."
"Well." Olivia said with a smile. "She missed you."
"Really? Are you sure you haven't had everyone training her to say 'dada' for two whole weeks."
Olivia chuckled.
"Fine. You got me." She relented. "But she said it, didn't she?'
"OLIVIA- we need you." One of her assistants called out.
"A moment." Olivia called out.
She leaned closer to Fitz and whispered in his ear. "I'm only going to tell you this once."
"-tell away." Fitz teased.
"As soon as you get the chance...I want you to fuck the shit outta me."
Fitz chuckled and shook his head. Olivia stepped back and smiled.
"The food is over there." She pointed to a room behind a black curtain. "I've got to go." She kissed his cheek and then she quickly walked towards the assistant that stood by another curtain with the word "changing room - do not enter" printed in bold on paper.
Fitz went to the room Olivia directed him to and ate from the spread of hors' d'oeuvres and fruits. After 15 minutes, one of Olivia's assistants came for him to bring him to his front row seat by the runway. There was a little gift bag on the seat, it was sealed with a box at the top so he didn't open it. Lined up against the walls, behind the last row of seats was an orchestra.
Once all the models were dressed, they were lined up behind the entrance of the runway. The production team had set up a live feed backstage so Olivia could watch the show in real time. Olivia did a walk through and quickly inspected every single model to make sure the look was perfect. She didn't want a single hair out of place. When she gave the okay, the music began. She spent weeks trying to find something that would compliment her collection and in the end, in a hail mary attempt, she managed to book Frank Ocean to perform. He was now on stand by with his handlers, just a few feet away from her, waiting for his signal to enter the runway stage.
The lights on the runway and the surrounding area went black. Olivia stood back, close to the now black tv screen. The into to Frank's first song "godspeed" faded in and he immediately walked unto the black stage and stood in front of Olivia's full name on the backdrop against the runway. The orchestra joined in.
The lights flipped back on. Frank began to sing in with the orchestra.
Olivia heard applause.
She took a couple of deep breaths afraid her heart might explode, she was feeling so many things at once. She looked her assistant, counting down the notes to signal for Naomi Campbell to open her show.
After the first stanza, her assistant Rumi gave the signal and Naomi walked out in her first look.
Olivia heard applause again.
When Naomi hit the mark, Rumi signal the next model to go.
From the feed on the screen, Olivia could see all her guests in the audience taking pictures on the phones as the models walked by.
Ten minutes. That's how long the show lasted after months of works. After the finale, she walked out with her team, almost 20 members strong. She waved and smiled to applause. She could see Lily, Erin and Fitz just a few seats down. Lily was sleeping in his arms.
After a few seconds, she went backstage with her team while everyone in the audience stood, some chatting, others gathering their things and heading for the exists.
The hotel staff aided in showing everyone out.
Fitz, Erin and Lily, came backstage. The first thing Fitz saw was Olivia talking with Frank and a few other models. He waited on the side for her and once she was done she ran over to him and kissed him and squeezed his cheeks.
"Have I told you how much I love this fucking beard. I just wanna sit on it."
"You can..you will."
She chuckled.
"How do you feel?' He asked. "You did good, I think they really liked it."
"You think so?"
"Yeah based on the fact that I didn't hear anyone talking shit while the show was going on I'd say yeah, they liked it."
She smiled even wider.
"Well everyone except little miss thing right here."
Fitz looked down at Lily.
"Oh yeah, the second Frank came out she was gone."
Olivia kissed her and then she heard a champagne bottle pop behind her and turned around. Lily slept right through the noise as she always did.
Erin was holding an open champagne bottle with three glasses.
"To my bomb ass motherfucking sister!" Erin yelled.
Olivia's team hooted. Erin poured three glasses full of champagne and gave one to Fitz and another to Olivia. She'd purchased more than one bottle and passed the rest around to the team until everyone glass was full.
"You did your fucking thing with this collection and you worked so hard so you deserve every ounce of success that comes your way."
"Oh stop you guys are gonna make me cry."
Erin raised her glass.
"To Liv. The definition of a boss ass bitch."
"To Liv." Everyone repeated.
Olivia smiled and took a gulp of her champagne.
"I couldn't have done anyone this without all of you working so hard right along with me and I can't wait to go out and celebrate tonight. Cheers."
"CHEERS."
An hour later, Olivia and Fitz were back in their hotel room after dropping Lily off to Sonia's room so they could get some time alone. Once Fitz locked the door behind him Olivia jumped on him and wrapped her legs around his waist and started kissing him.
"You look so good."
"Yeah?" He said as he walked.
"I can't believe you're all mine."
He walked until he reached the double doors leading to their bedroom and opened it with one hand as he held her around his waist with the other.
"I missed you so much." She whispered as she kissed him. "This arrangement isn't going to work..not at all."
Fitz smiled as he laid her on the bed. "Let's argue about it after, okay?"
She nodded as she quickly reached down to take off her boots.
"No. keep the boots on."
She chuckled and leaned up and elt her way to his belt and began to undo it.
Fitz slowly unbuttoned her dress until it was done all the way up and then he pulled it off and threw to the floor he reached up and slowly slid her underwear off and threw that to the floor and then he leaned in between her legs and and kissed her. She smiled and arched her back and ran her fingers through his hair.
He ran his tongue opened down her slit just enough to get her wet and then leaned up and pulled off his sweater and pants. Olivia crawled further up on the bed. She reached over to the nightstand and pulled a scrunchie from the drawer and pulled her hair into a ponytail. Once he was fully naked he climbed onto the bed on top of her and opened her legs underneath him. He leaned down and kissed as he slowly entered her but some reason, he had a hard time doing this.
"Mmmhmm." Olivia moaned, it hurt a little, which didn't expect. Her body was used to him and three weels wasn't a long time..or maybe it was because her vagina was not ready for his girth even though she was very wet.
"Finger me first." She said, figuring that would help.
Fitz spat on two fingers and reached down and slid them inside her.
She smiled.
He thrusted until she didn't feel so tight and then he leaned up and tried once again, slowly sliding in, this time, she swallowed him up inside her.
She closed her eyes and dug her fingers into his back.
Fitz groaned. "Fuck."
He thrusted faster.
"Fuck me harder...I missed you." She moaned.
Using the last ounce of energy he had left, he thrusted harder.
Seconds later.
"I'm cumming..."
"Fuck..me too." He said, raggedly out of breath.
She pulled him closer for a kiss and instead of kissing him, ended up sucking on his lips as she came. Fitz came at the exact same moment and then dropped down on the bed beside her. Spent. His head spun and he felt dizzy. He was exhausted.
Olivia saw him wince, from the corner of her eyes.
"Babe, are you alright?" She asked, still breathing unevenly.
"Yeah…." He said at first, then realized there was no need to lie. "No..my head is spinning."
She leaned up. " Do you need some water or maybe something for a headache?"
She felt something on her feet and then remember she didn't take off her boots.
"No. I just need to sleep-come lay beside me so I can fall asleep."
She slipped off her boots and the sheer ankle stockings she had underneath and then she took the room control remote from the nightstand and turned off the lights in the room.
She crawled beside him and snuggled on his side. "It's alright. I'm here now." She said as she ran her hands across his chest.
Just a few moments later, she heard light snoring. He was asleep.