Chapter 15 (Final Chapter)

The wedding was minutes away at this point, and the guests were all taking their seats. Olivia finished getting ready and approached her daughter who she found outside of the courtyard, talking to Fitz.

"What are you guys talking about?" she inquired.

"Nothing," Raya said, turning back toward her mom.

Olivia looked at Fitz who looked far better and well rested. He looked good in a suit, and the swelling of his face looked like it had gone down. You couldn't even tell that he was just in a fight.

"Raya was actually just finishing doing my makeup," Fitz smirked.

"You're wearing makeup?" Olivia laughed. That explained it.

"I just wanted to look good for the pictures…I may no longer be in politics, but that doesn't mean I stopped my self-obsessed vanity, Livvie," Fitz laughed. Olivia laughed along, naturally gravitating towards him when they saw Jake, Quinn, Abby and Stephen approaching the courtyard as well.

"Well, I'm going to go take a seat. I'll leave you two alone until its starts." Fitz walked away from them and joined the others, walking into the center of the courtyard where the ceremony was being held. Olivia was happy to see Fitz join the others instead of succumbing to the brooding loner he was acting like when he first arrived. Olivia hugged her daughter until they heard the Bridal Chorus play.

Olivia took her daughter's arm and began walking down the path of the courtyard that was cleared for her. Olivia looked around at all of the attendees. There were Zeke's family and friends, and Olivia's friends who she had made from her own time in Zanzibar. She caught wind of her old friends and saw Abby, Stephen, Jake and Fitz sitting together toward the front. She briefly exchanged glances with Fitz and smiled. She glowed inwardly thinking that even if she wasn't sure who Raya's father was, she knew for certain that he was at least witnessing this milestone. Raya and Olivia reached the end of aisle, and stood beside Zeke and the priest who was conducting the wedding.

"Dearly beloved-"

"Wait!" Raya called out before the priest could even begin to speak another word. "Let's not get married, Zeke." Raya announced, gaining an insanely loud gasp from the entire audience.

"Let's not…what?" Zeke uttered in completely taken aback by Raya's outburst.

"Raya…" Olivia questioned, staring at her daughter.

"Zeke, we're still so young. I know you wouldn't admit it, but I could tell that you never wanted this, at least not yet. Let's not then…we can just wait! Let's just go away and get off this island and explore the world. We still have our whole lives ahead of us!" she rambled.

A look of relief flooded Zeke's face. He and Raya had always been on the same page ever since they started dating when they were 16. With the wedding approaching, the reached little bumps within their relationship. Nothing major, but still terrifying since they had never experienced that before. He recognized that they still had work to do, and could feel a wedge building them as he noticed that their were more frequent disagreements. But seeing Raya right now, call off their wedding, confirmed to him that they were once again right on the same page.

"Okay," he smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too!" Raya turned her neck upward to kiss him.

"Wait a minute," the priest paused with the astonished congregation still staring at the site before them. "So no one is getting married?"

"I…I guess not. Raya?" Olivia replied in disbelief that the wedding had just gotten called off moments before.

Raya could tell there was some slight disappointment in her mom's eyes, not because she had just called off the wedding, she knew her mom would support her on any of her life choices, and she could already tell that her mom was behind her on this move. But she seemed upset given the lengths she had gone to plan a perfect wedding for her, and Raya felt bad.

"Well wait a minute," Raya called out, "why waste a perfectly good wedding, when we have everything we need right here…Fitz?"

Raya's head, along with every single person's in the crowd, turned toward Fitz who shifted uncomfortably in his seat with all eyes on him.

"I-I-I…w-what?" he asked completely confused and panicked.

"Come on, you told me that you wished you could marry my mom just before the wedding started," Raya told Fitz.

"I did?...I mean I did, but I didn't mean…I mean I meant….I….uh…Livvie?" Fitz looked to Olivia hoping she could speak up right now and end the insanity unraveling before the entire courtyard.

"It's alright, she basically said the same thing about you when we were getting ready!" Raya cheerfully announced. Olivia snapped her head at her daughter for her big reveal.

"Raya!"

"Livvie?"

"Fitz?" Olivia turned her attention to Fitz who was coming out of his seat and approaching the middle of the aisle.

"Oh this is all bullshit," Fitz uttered, opening his arms wide as he stood in the middle of the courtyard. "How 'bout it, Livvie? You're going to need someone to boss around on this island," he grinned ear to ear.

Olivia was left flustered, feeling all the attention turn on her.

"Are you crazy?"

Fitz shrugged.

"Maybe, but I know that I get even crazier every minute that I'm not with you."

The entire crowd made an audible "awww" followed by an immediate gasp, watching Fitz get down onto one knee.

"Livvie, 23 years ago you asked me what my plan was, and I didn't know at the time, and I still don't know, but what I do know is that whatever it is, I want to be with you. I need to be with you. I have loved you for the last 23 years, and I know that I will love only you for the next 23 years, and 33 years, and 43 years and far, far, beyond that. You make me my best person, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Olivia's tears swelled in her eyes. The recurring dreams she had when she first came to the island where he would show up to sweep her off her feet again and run off to get married was unfolding right before. She never thought it would actually happen as the years went on but here they were. She let the tears roll down her face as she saw Fitz reach into a pocket and pull out a familiar jewelry box and opened it.

"Olivia Pope, will you marry me?" Fitz asked, revealing the infinity ring that Olivia saw all those years ago.

Olivia's body shuddered with joyous emotions, trying to keep herself in check, but she couldn't help the tears taking over her.

"Yes!" she cried, unable to move from the excitement and joy. Fitz got up and ran down the aisle toward her, kissing her deeply without a care in the world that they were in front of hundreds of people. Olivia's lips pulled out of his.

"You'll love only me for another 43 years, huh?" she playfully smirked.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry Livvie but I you'll eventually have to let me roam free. I don't know about you, but I plan on being a very slutty 96-year-old."

Olivia laughed hysterically at Fitz's remarks, when the priest interrupted her.

"Are we ready to proceed?" the Priest asked.

"Yes!" Fitz replied boldly.

"Dearly beloved-"

"Wait! No…"

Fitz turned his attention to Olivia, "the ring you have. I know what it might seem like, but I need you to believe me that I never gave it to Mel-"

"Fitz, I know!" Olivia cut him off, not wanting him to even utter her name at their wedding, "I noticed when I first saw you two together on the news together."

Fitz let out a sigh of relief that he did not have to try and defend himself further.

"Are we ready now?" the priest asked.

"Yes!" Olivia chimed this time.

"Dearly beloved-"

"Wait! No…"

She turned her head back to Fitz.

"Wait Fitz, how are we going to do this? You have a family back in California and all your work is in the States?"

Fitz grabbed onto Olivia's shoulders to calm her racing thoughts.

"We'll figure it out, Livvie. I'll look at advocacy work around here; I was already looking into it when I arrived. We'll figure it out together," he smiled brightly.

"Okay."

"Okay, are we actually ready now?" the priest asked, annoyed by the interruptions.

"Yes!" they both answered in unison. Zeke and Raya stood back from the altar, giving Olivia and Fitz the space they needed.

"Well, alright then. Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God to join this man, and this woman in holy matrimony. We are all here today to witness the joining in wedded bliss of…"

"…Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III," Fitz spoke, realizing that the priest and many of the people at this wedding probably had not known who he was.

"and…"

"Olivia Pope," Olivia filled in the gaps for the priest to continue.

"This joyous day celebrates the commitment and love with which Fitzgerald and Olivia start their lives together. Through God, you are joined together in the most holy of bonds. Who gives this woman in holy matrimony to this man?"

"I do," Raya spoke up on behalf of her mother, smiling at her.

"Do you, Olivia Pope take Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III to be your lawfully wedded husband, and live together forever in the estate of holy matrimony? Do you love, comfort, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse for as long as you both shall live?

"I do."

"Do you, Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III take Olivia Pope to be your lawfully wedded wife and live together forever in the estate of holy matrimony? Do you love, comfort, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse for as long as you both shall live?

"I so do," Fitz answered practically gleaming, reaching up to cup Olivia's face as he waited for the final magic words that he had been waiting 23 years to hear.

"Then with the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Fitz and Olivia jumped at the chance to connect, kissing ever so passionately as a crowd around them erupted with applause. Only after a complete minute kissing each other did they finally pause to take a breath.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

The reception, initially intended for Raya and Zeke, was held immediately after. Olivia walked hand-in-hand with Fitz around the party, introducing him to all of her local friends she had made throughout the years. Olivia looked around the party and saw Abby and Stephen talking together while Raya and Zeke were dancing together with Jake and Quinn not too far by. She couldn't believe how this week had turned out.

"What?" he asked her, noticing a look on her face.

"Nothing. It's just last week I thought I was never going to see you again, and now we're married…" Olivia mused, fiddling with the ring around her finger. "I always wondered when I first noticed, but how come you never gave this ring to anyone else?"

Fitz took a deep breath.

"I know that I lied to you a little bit about that ring…but the origins of it were true. It really was my great grandmother's, and it really was from Paris, and I was suppose to give it to the love of my life…so I saved it."

Olivia smiled widely at him, reaching up and cupping his face in her hands. She leaned in to kiss him, but was interrupted.

"Hey look! No way!" Raya yelled out for everyone and pointed up to the night sky. Olivia dropped her hands and looked up too, witnessing hundreds of lights streak across the sky.

"Well, would you look at that? There was supposed to be a meteor shower after all!" Stephen said in wonder.

Olivia and Fitz laughed looking up at the rain of light right above them, reminiscent of their fist date.

"It's beautiful," Olivia said, staring at the sky in awe.

"Sure is."

And they kissed beneath a thousand shooting stars.