A/N: I'm finally back! I'm sorry this update took so long, I've had the worst writer's block. Also, I just wanted to say that I do plan to continue this story. I've been sad since they wrapped, so I'll definitely need to keep myself occupied after the finale actually airs haha. As usual, I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.

Unbelievable.

It was the only word that had come to mind in the half hour since she had gotten off the phone.

She had experienced her fair share of melodrama in life; hell, at times boarding school and college had just seemed like one clusterfuck of movie cliches, but this? This was just...unbelievable.

In less than twenty-four hours, she had not only decided to throw caution to the wind for the man who made her feel more alive than she ever had – talk about cliches – but now, she had been given an ultimatum by her almost-mother-in-law that directly involved said potential lover. The conversation had been rather straightforward and entirely one-sided, ending abruptly after Diane signed off with an oh-so-chipper "Ciao, darling!" like some Disney cartoon villain. Her demands were clear; while she may not have approved of her son and Olivia's relationship, she'd be damned if she allowed Olivia to "embarrass her poor son and the entire Shaw family by fraternizing with their employees."

It was like she had fallen down some type of daytime soap opera rabbit hole.

She couldn't help but laugh at the thought, wild giggles erupting the longer she considered the incredulity of the entire situation.

Un-fucking-believable.

She quieted down after a few minutes, Diane's words ringing in her ears. She had volleyed back and forth between lobbing threats against Fitz's job, swearing that he wouldn't be able to find work in the entire tri-state area if she had anything to do with it, and warnings of what their "torrid affair" would do to Olivia's own reputation.

Olivia wanted to interrupt her, to remind Diane that she knew enough about company secrets and coverups to tank them in one news cycle, but she held her tongue. In the heat of the moment, she swore it was because she didn't want to show all her cards at once, but, in hindsight, she knew it might have been something else. She could protect herself easily, fend off Diane's vitriol without batting an eye, but Fitz...he'd still be out of a job when it was said and done. Diane had made it more than clear her threats stood even if she and Dean were no longer together; there was no way she'd let her son continue to employ the man his ex had left him for.

Immediately, she thought of their conversation from the night before.

"It was a mess and...I can't go through that again."

He had specifically told her that he couldn't sacrifice his livelihood because of a relationship again, and now here she was, with the power to either enable or prevent it from happening.

"Fuck," she groaned, grabbing a pillow from the other side of the bed and laying it over her face.

"This is your last free petit four." Abby slid another plate in front of her before taking a seat on the opposite side of the booth. "At least until you tell me what's wrong."

"I told you, it's nothing." Olivia shook her head as she took a bite.

"Nothing? Liv, you barely like sweets, and yet, in the past hour you've sampled my entire display case." Abby leaned in, brows raised. "What's wrong?"

Olivia sighed, staring intently at her plate.

"Liv?"

"I listened to you," she paused, eyeing a few incoming customers warily and lowering her voice. "I took Fitz with me last night."

Abby's face lit up instantly. "And?" As Olivia hesitated to respond, her face fell, her eyes narrowing. "Did something happen? Did he do something, because so help me –"

"Abby," Olivia quickly cut her off. "Something happened, but not like you're thinking. We, uh, we kissed."

Still a little wary, Abby questioned, "We? As in, you wanted to, right?"

Olivia nodded.

"So," Abby's face once again contorted, this time revealing her unsureness, "that's a good thing?"

"It was...and then it wasn't."

"I think you're going to have to give me a little more than that, Liv."

And so, taking a deep breath, she did. Minutes later, when she had caught Abby up on the last twenty-four hours, her friend leaned back in her seat and let out a low whistle.

"Wow."

"Yeah." Olivia nodded, letting out a humorless chuckle.

"Well, what are you going to do?"

"What can I do, Abby? We can't be together. I'm not going to let him lose his job over a relationship that doesn't even exist yet."

"That sounds more like you're making the choice for the both of you." Abby folded her arms, looking at Olivia pointedly.

"And why shouldn't I? He already told me he couldn't lose his job over us being together –"

"No, he told you he didn't want to lose it over being your mister-ress."

Although she had left out the details of Fitz's past...dalliances, she was starting to regret sharing even the gist of their conversation from last night.

Rolling her eyes, she countered, "What's the difference?"

"The difference is that he might be willing to face the wrath of Diane Shaw if you two are actually in this together, which is why you should speak to him before deciding what to do."

"I doubt he'll care whether we're 'in this together' a month from now when he can't find a job, Abby," she frowned, crossing her own arms. "And what happens then? We break up because he ends up resenting me? It's not worth it –"

To her surprise, Abby started to laugh.

"What are you – why are you laughing?"

"Because you need to cut the crap."

Already on the defensive, Olivia tilted her head. "Excuse me?"

As her laughter finally subsided, Abby pointed a finger at Olivia. "You," she emphasized, "need to cut the crap."

"I don't know what you're –"

"You're scared, Liv."

Shrugging, she acceded, "Obviously I'm a little scared. I don't want a good man to lose his job for nothing."

"But that's just it, Liv. It isn't 'nothing' and that's why you're scared." Abby quickly shooed away one of her employees approaching their table and returned her attention to Olivia with laser-focus. "You want to be with him, like really be with him and that terrifies you."

Olivia tried to respond when Abby raised a hand.

"And don't tell me you aren't, because I can see the wheels turning in your head. You're using the first obstacle you can as an excuse to get out of this before it even starts."

Olivia scoffed. "Are you trying to say I'm afraid of commitment? Because Dean and I were together for years –"

"And you were miserable for most of them!" Abby's voice grew louder than she intended and they both shifted awkwardly under the sudden stares from other guests at the bakery. A moment later, she continued, practically whispering, "You've stayed with Dean because it's been safe and because, in the back of your mind, you always knew it wasn't real. And now, you have the opportunity for something new, something real, and, yeah, it might blow up in your face, but, Liv," her eyes softened and her voice grew more earnest, "it could also be really great."

Olivia looked away, suddenly feeling exposed.

"You should speak to him, let him know what's going on and then you can decide where to go next, together."

Releasing a shaky breath, she realized Abby was right and met her gaze once more. "And what if we decide it isn't worth it?"

"Then, maybe it isn't, but at least you can say you honestly tried." Abby offered a small smile, "And I'll make you as many petit fours as you can eat."

She stared hard at her phone, practically burning a hole into it. She had sworn she would make the call as soon as she got home, but Abby was right, she was...scared. Scared of what would happen if they chose to end things before they even started, and even more scared of what could happen if they chose to move forward together.

She pulled up Fitz's contact for what seemed like the hundredth time and counted down from ten. She made it to three, then, in a blaze of pent up nerves sent the call through.

It immediately went to voicemail.

She pulled her phone from her ear, about to try again when she suddenly remembered that he left with a broken phone the night before.

"Dammit." Rubbing her temples, she briefly considered calling Lucia for his contact information but quickly shot the idea down. If she knew Diane's type as well as she thought she did, there was no way she could go through Red Giant Jets to reach him without setting off alarm bells. She'd just try him again later in the week, and if not, they were still scheduled to meet up next Saturday.

She could barely finish the thought before her phone started vibrating. She held her breath as she looked down, sighing when she saw Cyrus' name flash across the screen. She considered not answering, and then realized it might have been a godsend. If there was one thing that could distract her from the growing avalanche of problems in her personal life, it was the familiar high of tackling problems in her professional life.

Without thinking on it another second, she quickly picked up.

"This better be important if you're bothering me on my day off."

Six days.

It had been six days and not a single thing had changed.

Fitz evidently still hadn't gotten a new phone, and, much to her surprise, Dean hadn't reached out at all. And while she would have liked to think that it was because he had just gotten the hint the week before, she couldn't help but worry that his mother had already said something to him. She knew she needed to first get a hold of Fitz and figure out where they stood, but then, regardless of what they decided, she would officially cut ties with Dean the way she knew she should have the night he had proposed; she wanted to leave no room for question.

She had allowed herself to be preoccupied with work the first few days, spending the remainder of her weekend happily bouncing between the office and Cyrus' place to manage a leak from a now-former Account Executive. They had managed to get on top of it after pulling every string imaginable, and Cyrus had even encouraged her to take a day or two off as compensation, but she had refused, choosing instead to spend late nights at the office. She needed to keep herself as busy as possible.

That is, until she had hit a wall sometime around Thursday morning. Even as a self-proclaimed workaholic, she started to realize she was overdoing it. Between all the extra hours at work and nights spent tossing and turning, with her mind being held captive by habitual overthinking, she was running on very little sleep and a hell of a lot of stress.

Cyrus had sent her home as soon as the clock hit five that evening, after catching her guzzling an uncharacteristically unreasonable amount of coffee, and threatened unconvincingly to fire her if she even thought of showing up the next day. She didn't bother to fight him on it at the time, but as her calls again went unanswered that evening and another restless night passed without the break of dawn holding the promise of distraction, she began to rethink following his orders.

She chose instead to clean her entire apartment to pass the time, which explained how she found herself elbow deep in her near-empty fridge when someone knocked on her door early Friday evening.

"Coming," she called out, readjusting the scarf tied around her head.

Whether it was because her mind was still running a mile a minute or because of all the cleaning fumes she had inhaled, she didn't think to check the peephole, her eyes immediately growing wide the moment she opened the door to reveal a suit-clad Dean.

"Hey, babe," he smirked, looking her over. "A little underdressed, don't you think?"

Olivia glanced down at her t-shirt and leggings, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked back up at Dean.

"What are you talking about? Why are you here?"

"Oh come on, Liv, I thought you'd be happy to see me." He tried to walk inside and she quickly stepped in front of him. "I figured you needed some space, but we haven't really spoken since I left. Didn't you miss me?"

As he reached for her hand, she crossed her arms and sighed, "Dean, we need to talk."

She hadn't intended to do this yet, at least not before warning Fitz, but, hey, when the universe presented an opportunity, right?

"Well, we can talk on the way to the party."

"What?" She narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"Fairman's retirement party? I had Lucy email you and send a dress to your office this morning."

He tried to step inside again and she straightened her spine, staring him down. "I stayed home today."

"I can see that," he chuckled. "Well, you can still just throw something on. I never liked that son of a bitch, so we won't stay too long anyways."

"Look, Dean –"

"It's fine, I can wait. I'll just be out in front with my driver. Mom might be a little mad but –"

Her ears instantly perked up. "What? Your mom's in the car?"

"Yeah," he shrugged. "I know you two don't have the best relationship, but she's good friends with Fairman's wife and asked if she could ride over with us."

Her breath caught.

That woman truly was something else.

Carefully, she looked Dean over, searching for signs that his mother had relayed any part of their conversation. Although he seemed completely clueless, she could sense that Diane was sending her a clear message; she was in full Mama Bear mode, purposefully inserting herself in their lives to make sure Olivia had heeded her warning.

Olivia knew the woman was trying to hold her close to the flame, to let her know that her back was against the wall, and probably doing the same to Fitz in Dean's absence. Who knew what kind of words were being exchanged in that car while they waited?

The thought suddenly made her furious.

She was a grown woman and refused to let her love life morph into some pathetic, nightmarish reenactment of The Young and the Restless. She was going to put an end to things once and for all, but to do so, she suddenly realized, she'd have to play Diane's games just a little bit longer.

"Give me fifteen minutes."

Twenty minutes later, she emerged from her building donning a dress pulled out from the back of her closet, her face still nearly bare aside from a few swipes of mascara and lip gloss and her hair freshly released from its wrap, falling just below her shoulders.

Her heart leapt at the sight of the black Lincoln, and, for a moment, she forgot the current circumstances she found herself in. She was tempted to walk to the passenger door and smile at him through the window like she had done the week before, to relax into the seat and just enjoy the instant relief of being in his presence once again, but she couldn't.

Instead, she watched with bated breath as he slid out of the car and hurried to open the back door for her. She was willing to bet money Diane was scrutinizing their every move from the backseat, and, still, she couldn't help but pause before getting inside. It seemed he was trying as hard to avoid her gaze as she probably should have to evade his, and she bit her lip to stop herself from calling out to him.

His grip on the door handle was noticeably tight, the veins in his hand starting to bulge the longer he held it, and she realized he was upset.

"Ms. Pope," he greeted curtly with a nod, his voice harsh.

Oh.

He was upset with her.

Shit.

Her stomach dropped at the realization. She was so set on simply trying to speak to him before Diane had the chance to go nuclear that she hadn't truly considered just how it would look if she agreed to go as Dean's date.

"Babe, everything ok?"

As if confirming her fears, his jaw visibly tightened as Dean called out to her.

"Yeah," she cleared her throat, "just thought I forgot something."

She finally slid into the seat, watching from the corner of her eye as Fitz got back into the driver's seat.

"Nice of you to finally join us, Olivia," Diane quipped with a tight smile.

She nodded at the woman and held her tongue, not trusting herself to not say what was really on her mind.

"Well," Dean interjected, clasping his hands together, "let's get going. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can get wasted on someone else's dime."

She had been going through the motions for nearly an hour and a half, sticking by Dean's side while they exchanged initial pleasantries, then gratefully wandering among familiar faces while he took up a seemingly permanent seat at the bar with some of his buddies. The act grew more exhausting by the minute, and she couldn't help but wonder how she could have possibly entertained the idea of committing to a lifetime of it. She could sense her faux interest in her latest conversation waning and eyed the venue's entrance, huffing quietly when she noticed Diane standing only a few feet away.

Desperately needing to regroup and come up with a way to evade Diane's surveillance in order to speak to Fitz privately, Olivia excused herself and made her way to the restrooms in the rented-out restaurant's back hallway. She knocked on the door to the single-stall room, reaching to open it once there was no answer when the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood up. Quickly, her eyes darted to her left, and she saw Fitz through the glass of the restaurant's back door. He pushed off from the brick wall he had been leaning against and watched her.

She gestured subtly toward the restroom and he nodded, her heart already starting to race at the thought of being alone with him again. She quickly entered, and less than thirty seconds later, there was a knock. She took a step back as he slid inside and watched him immediately lock the door.

She was caught off guard a moment later, when he approached her in two short strides, held her face between his hands and pressed his lips to hers. They both sighed into the kiss, the relief of their reconnection stronger than either was prepared for.

"Missed you…" she couldn't help but whisper between passes of their lips, resting a hand against the back of his neck and pulling him closer.

One of his hands moved to the small of her back while the other gripped her waist, pressing her lower half into his.

She nearly wrapped her legs around him, nearly started to beg him to take her right then and there, but the faint sounds of someone sloppily singing along to Madonna brought her back to the present moment, and she remembered where they were.

"Fitz," she breathed out, indulging in a last, chaste kiss before pulling back. "We can't, we shouldn't…"

"I know." His breaths were short, and he rested his forehead against hers. "I know, Liv, I'm sorry. I got carried away."

"I think we both did," she laughed, swiping at the lip gloss that had transferred onto his lips.

They remained quiet for a long while, simply holding each other when he spoke quietly, "I missed you, too."

His grip on her waist tightened slightly, and she ran her hands over his arms.

"I thought you were mad," she admitted a moment later, the haze starting to clear from her mind. "He and I, we're not...we're going to be done. I meant what I said –"

"Liv," he quietly interrupted, "I know, trust me." He started to caress her cheek with his thumb. "I was upset when you first came down, I thought...I figured you changed your mind about us, but then," he leaned back, chuckling, "I watched you cringe every time he or his mother spoke the entire way over here. Call me hopeful, but that seemed like a sign."

She grinned for a moment, then frowned, taking a step back and moving out of his arms entirely.

"That's actually what I need to talk to you about."

His face fell instantly.

"No, no, you were right, about me cringing," she tried to reassure him, offering a slightly amused smile. "It's just, his mother, she knows...about us."

His eyebrows rose and he ran a hand through his hair. "What? Are you sure?"

Olivia nodded. "She and I had a...conversation. She was at Barneys that day, and she heard about the dinner party from Lillian, turns out they're friends. She gave me an ultimatum, we stop seeing each other or she goes nuclear."

Fitz shook his head in disbelief, "Well that explains why she was silently glaring at me the entire time we were waiting for you." His brow furrowing, he continued, "We can spin that, right? Like what you do at work. We really were just friends, anyone else at that dinner party would say the same –"

"And that's great for handling the public." She smiled acknowledgingly, touched that he had actually been listening to her all those times she spoke about work. With a sigh, she continued, "But the only person we really need to worry about is Dean, and Diane knows the second she tells him you did more than just give me rides, he's going to..."

"He's going to fire me," he finished for her.

She nodded and looked down at her hands, waiting for the moment she had been dreading. When he remained silent, she dejectedly began, "Look, I know what you said the other night. I don't want you to lose your job anymore than you do, and this, whatever this might've been, isn't worth that, so I completely understand –"

"Let him fire me."

"What?" Her head snapped up quickly, her eyes wide.

"I said," he was suddenly in her space again, cupping her cheeks with his hands. "Let him fire me," he repeated quietly, slowly starting to smile. "I know what I said the other night, but I also meant it when I said I want you, Liv. I want us, and for what I think is the first time in my life, I'm ready to fight for what I want."

His words instantly made her heart swell.

"Are you sure?" She had never experienced anything like this in her life, and she needed to be positive he was in this with her before she let herself fall. Abby's words again rang in her ear, she was scared out of her mind, but she was willing to try if he was.

"I'm sure, Liv." He dropped his gaze for a moment, as if trying to collect his thoughts. "I've spent the past week thinking about everything that could go wrong, all the reasons why we wouldn't work, but nothing stuck. I just kept coming back to...this feels right." His eyes met hers again. "This feels right, Liv, and I don't want to let go of that."

She sucked in a breath. It was as though he was speaking to her soul, saying everything she hadn't even realized she needed to hear.

"I don't want to let go either," she responded softly after a minute.

"Ok." An affectionate smile pulled at the corners of his lips. "So, we're in this together?"

She nodded. "We're in this together."

Several kisses and a few minutes later, Olivia readjusted Fitz's shirt and blazer as he looked on adoringly, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"So, are we still on for tomorrow?" Fitz grinned, pecking her forehead in gratitude as she finally took a step back.

"Maybe instead of running we can get you a new phone." She looked at him with raised eyebrows. "You're a very hard person to get in contact with at the moment."

He chuckled, nodding as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, didn't you hear? I'm about to be unemployed, so a new phone isn't really in the budget."

Though he was joking, she frowned slightly. He caught it before she could recover and reached out for her hand.

"Hey," he grazed the smooth skin on the back of her hand with his thumb, "don't worry, ok? I just paid rent, and I have enough to cover me for the next month. I can also help out at the shop with Charlie until I find something a little more permanent."

She nodded, her focus still on playing with his hand in hers.

"Liv?"

"You can't ask me not to worry." She finally looked up. "My mom used to say if worrying were an olympic sport, I'd win gold every time," she laughed, hoping to lighten the mood. "I worry, and I fix, that's just...that's what I do."

Fitz was still for a moment, then nodded, leaning down to kiss her soundly. "Then, I'll do my best to not give you anything to worry about," he whispered against her lips.

She rested a hand on his cheek and guided him into another kiss, before finally pulling away.

"Ok, we need to go, before someone comes back here and actually needs the bathroom."

"Good point."

They both looked themselves over in the mirror once more, before silently deciding that she would go first.

She spared one last smile in his direction. "See you on the flipside?"

He grinned in response, watching as she reached for the door handle, and quickly slipped out. She reached the end of the hallway and breathed out a sigh of relief, feeling as though she had released the entire week's stress in a single exhale.

She could just barely make out the sound of the door opening and closing again, immediately feeling his stare on her. She bit down on a smile and collected herself as best she could before rejoining the party.

Only minutes after she had started up conversation again, a heavy arm plopped down on her shoulders.

"Babe!" Dean interrupted her small circle without a care. "Mom's heading out with Mrs. Santiago. They're doing brunch or some shit in the morning, which means," he leaned in close as if whispering, and she frowned at the feel of his breath on her ear, "we get the backseat and the penthouse all to ourselves."

She could feel her cheeks burn as her conversation partners politely excused themselves, obviously not too keen on listening to Dean's not-so-quiet innuendos.

She knew him well enough to know that he wasn't nearly as drunk as everyone would believe. Alcohol of any kind made him loose, and loose meant his usually miniscule filter was all but nonexistent.

"Ok." She pulled his arm from around her, grabbing his forearm to guide him outside. "Let's get you home."

Dean followed happily, only stopping to wish one of his friends across the room a loud farewell. Fortunately, they only had to wait on the curb a minute before Fitz pulled the car around, and Dean flopped unceremoniously onto the backseat.

Olivia considered for a moment sitting in the passenger seat, and, by the way Fitz was glancing between it and her, she could tell he was thinking the same. But before she could make a decision, Dean reached out for her arm.

"Babe, come on. I missed you tonight. We were barely together." Just like clockwork, in the absence of a public audience, his loud and obnoxious mannerisms gave way to those of a pouty child. Rolling her eyes, she slid into the seat beside him. It was only a short car ride, and she figured it'd do far more harm than good to get him suspicious and riled up before his buzz had worn off.

Or so she thought.

The car jerked once every few blocks as Fitz stomped on the breaks, his attention seeming to be primarily on the rearview mirror rather than the busy road in front of him. Olivia tried to send him reassuring smiles every so often, dodging Dean's advances until a fourth kiss landed on her cheek and he appeared to get the message.

"Home sweet home," he grinned happily when they pulled in front of the building that housed his parents' penthouse. "Come on, babe," he reached for her hand and she pulled back.

"I'm not going up with you, Dean."

"What?" He spat.

She realized she no longer had a reason to drag it out any longer; this was finally her chance.

"Look, can we just talk?" She went to open the door, but realized it was still locked. She glanced at Fitz expectantly, but instead he only looked back, his face colored with concern. She nodded, subtly letting him know she had this, and he finally unlocked the doors with a sigh.

She got out of the car, and Dean slowly followed, looking somewhere between confused and irritated.

"Liv, what's this about? Just come up with me." He didn't wait for an answer, already starting to make his way to the building's entrance.

In a moment of pure exasperation, she could only think to call out behind him, "I'm done, Dean."

He stopped abruptly and turned on his heels, looking at her as if she had grown two heads.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm done," she repeated with more conviction. "With this, with us. We had something good, but it hasn't been good for a while and we both know that. I'm sorry, but I'm telling you straight out this time, I'm done."

"Liv," he was back in front of her in seconds, "babe, you don't mean that."

"See that, right there. Stop telling me what I do or don't mean. I'm done, Dean. I said it, and I meant it. I really don't want to make a scene but –"

He had been staring at her incredulously, when he suddenly began to laugh.

"You're dumping me, on a Friday night in the middle of Manhattan and you don't want to make a scene? Give me a fucking break, Liv!"

"Dean –"

"What is it? Is it another guy? Is that why you haven't been screwing me? Because all that job crap you've been spouting for months is –"

"Goodbye, Dean."

"Don't you dare walk the fuck away from me –"

It seemed to happen within the span of a millisecond. She had turned back towards the car, his hand grabbed her arm, hard, and then, he was on the ground, holding the side of his face and groaning in pain.

"Touch her again you son of a bitch and see what happens."

She didn't know how Fitz had gotten beside her so quickly, but she watched with wide eyes as he stood over Dean, nostrils flaring and face red.

By now, they had started to draw a small crowd, and she didn't know what to do but watch in shock. Luckily, Fitz went into action moments later, placing a hand on her lower back to guide her back to the car.

She was almost inside when Dean's laugh sounded once more from the distance.

"The driver? Have you been screwing my fucking driver?"

Fitz didn't miss a beat, continuing to usher Olivia inside the car and help her with her seatbelt. He was just about to close the door when Dean continued his tirade from the ground, "I knew I should've cheated on you with Lucy when I had the chance."

She didn't have time to process what he had said before he persisted.

"Hey, Grant? Your ass is fired, and that car is company property. No bitches or side dicks allowed."

She could see the second Fitz intended to turn around and deliver another punch, and she quickly reached out for his arm to stop him.

"Fitz, no."

His fiery gaze met hers, and he breathed in deeply.

"Let it go. He's not worth it," she urged softly, holding her breath as she released him.

He glanced back at Dean, then at her, before immediately making his way to the driver's seat. They ignored Dean's continued shouts as he pulled into traffic, driving off in the direction of her apartment.

Five minutes passed, the silence between them deafening, before Fitz came to a red light and turned to her.

"So," he glanced down at his hand, flexing his bruised knuckles, "I think we got the worst of it out of the way."

She was quiet for a moment, and then, they both laughed, hard.