Chapter 28
He was standing outside of her hospital room unable to open the door. As much as he loved her he had not been able to really look her directly in the face since he had realized that he had put all that had happened to her into motion. Not to mention to see his own face in the mirror and the anguish there. It had hurt him to his core to know he was the reason she was behind that door. He had caused her to be hurt. She could have been killed. She could have been raped. All the scenarios he envisioned in his head no matter what they were, it was his fault. He loved Olivia more than anything in this world and yet that love for her had put her here. It was an unbearable feeling. It was killing him. However what he was feeling now would be a drop of water into an ocean compared to what he would feel if she left him for his folly. He had been literally dying without her. He ran his hands through his hair and placed his hand on the knob.
If Olivia was asleep that would be a good thing. Too much was running through his head right now. He didn't want her synchronizing with his mind. He had to clear his head of the thoughts now swirling in and out of brain. It was just as much for his sanity as it had been hers. He was praying she was asleep.
Meanwhile Olivia had been agitated and restless since Fitz had left her. This mess of her own making was freaking her out. When the doctor had come around with her medications she had been glad because she had known that one of the meds was supposed to relax her and basically make her sleep. She had not been able to sleep since Fitz had walked out of the door. She had taken the medicine and she had gone to sleep. Now three hours later she was wide awake again. Fitz wasn't back. He never should have left. This was a Huck exercise and Fitz should've let him take care of it.
She had never purposely tried to make the telepathy between them occur but she had this night. He hadn't wanted Fitz to leave her and go out into night to confront Jake. Yet she had told him what he had done to her, what in the hell did she expect he would do? What the man had done was despicable. It was the actions of a deranged person. She had cast her lot with a person that would tape her in her own home. In her home where all that occurred should have been private and sacred, the man had invaded privacy and turned her most private moments into filth. She shouldn't feel shame but she did at the moment. She had started shake and tremble. Next she started to cry. All of that had happened to her, every last bit of it was her fault.
What kind of woman goes out into the street looking for a man to fuck her? What kind of a woman does that? She had no way of knowing who or what she would pick up on the streets of Washington, DC. She was lucky she had walked away with only a concussion. The man was obviously a pervert but he could have been more than that. Who knows what the outcome of that night wouldn't been? And now she had dragged Fitz and Huck into her mess.
She had called Huck to meet her at the office because she wanted him to use his expertise on Jake Ballesston. She had wanted him to know fear as she had done once she realized what she was seeing. It had floored her. She could have accomplished that herself. She had a weapon in her purse. She could have pulled it out and taught that fiend a lesson herself but she had been so stunned. The man had been watching her masturbate. After she saw that she had lost her way.
Her gut had been wrong. Initially she had rebuffed the man because she had bad vibes about him and then they had left her after that first night they had spent together. She had been the one to pursue him. He had no way to contact her or so she had thought. But he had. Her gut had sensed honesty and decency in him and her gut was never wrong. She had felt that initially in his touch on the dance floor. He had seemed okay. He seemed to like her and she thought she liked him enough to sleep with him. She had known what he wanted from her from the first so based on what she had set out to do she had ended up at his home primed to have sex with him until she realized she couldn't go through with it. She had realized that even before she saw herself pushing that dildo in and out of her body. She loved a specific man and he was the one she wanted to share her body with not a Tom, Dick, or Harry. And definitely not a Jake, she had been about seeking a way to end the night when she had pushed the button on that remote.
Here she was wide awake in a hospital distraught because she knew Fitz was probably going to kill that man. She could feel the cold calculated rage pouring from his body. It had frightened her. Of course she knew he could get angry after all he wasn't a saint. However his anger had never been directed at her. Huck was a cold-bloodied killer he had been trained to do the things he did. She knew he would make the man pay for what he had done but she didn't want to involve Fitz. He was the President. He had no business being involved in this. She didn't want him to have any culpability in this farce. At this point she wasn't even sure what she wanted to happen to the man. In the beginning she was thinking pain and suffering and if Huck took him out so what? Videotaping a private sex act, it was reprehensible and criminal but did it necessarily mean the man should die?
Olivia felt helpless. She had no phone. Her personal one and the Fitz phone had been in her purse and she had no idea where they were. Huck had found her unconscious and had called 911 and Fitz. She had looked for her purse and it wasn't in this room. No doubt Huck had put it someplace. She had finally decided she was going to talk to the agent outside her door and ask him to contact the President and ask him to come back here ASAP. She needed to fix this thing before it spiraled out of control! She had tried to conjure up the telepathy between them and nothing was happening. She had to do something. She had gotten up and gone to the door and had put her hand on the door handle. The connection was immediate she felt him there. Fitz was on the other side of that door.
Her energy immediately crossed the metal knob. Olivia was awake. Fitz could feel her she was on the other side of that door. How long had she been there and what had she sensed from his thoughts. He turned the handle and went inside. Olivia had stepped back and let him in. As soon as he walked in she meshed into him holding onto him tightly. He had immediately crushed her to him too. "Livvie you should be sleeping. I told you not to worry everything is alright."
"Fitz I was just going to ask the agent out there to contact you. I was worried that you are too deeply involved in this. This is my mess and you should have allowed me to clean it up. I am the one that started this. I am the one that has been a fool. Right from the beginning you told me that Mellie would use me because she couldn't sway you. She would use the fact that I felt guilty about the affair. She would use it against me and you were right. She made me feel little and small. She accused me of making your kids fatherless. I would be the cause of your Presidency crashing and burning. Your party she said would abandon you because you dared to love me. I ran Fitz. Those burdens seemed like too much to bear. I didn't want those things on my shoulder. So I let her push me out and I ran from you as quick as my legs would let me."
"I roamed aimlessly for months trying to forget you, trying to pick up the pieces of my life without you. I dreamed of you so many nights not just of the passion that we shared but everything. However on the nights that I relived our passion they were glorious. I would explode against your mouth, your hand, or with you buried deep inside my body. I would scream your name in my sleep. At first it was enough those dreams. And then they stopped occurring they just stopped I couldn't conjure one up to save my life."
"Then I considered going solo. I had done solo, we had done solo together and I loved it. That is what Jake Ballesston taped Fitz. I was trying to get us back in my head. And it worked that night. I pretended you were there in my ear telling me what to do and it was explosive but it came nowhere near duplicating what I felt with you on the other end of the phone telling me what to do. When it was over as wonderful as it had felt I wanted intimacy with a real person. So began my saga with Jake Ballesston. He became a pawn in a game I decided to play. When I realized I couldn't play the game that I had initiated I was ending it. Seeing myself on that tape jarred me back into reality. I saw who and what the man really was. I caused my injury and I caused this man to go down the criminal path he chose. What I should have done was gone to the police and reported his crimes and not involved you or Huck."
"What have you done Fitz? What has Huck felt compelled to do because of me? I want him punished but not with his life Fitz. Please tell me what is going on?"
"Olivia please calm down. Calmer heads have prevailed in all of this. Ballesston was given two options and neither one of them was death. He will choose one and he will get on with his life. Suffice it to say he is now out of yours. He will choose one of the two and become eliminated from our lives or there will be a third option. He will choose what he deems best for him. For us however he no longer exists. You have no need to feel the guilt that you do Olivia. I will say again none of this is your fault."
"Fitz we can't throw this at Mellie's feet either. You love me Fitz and you have a blind eye to my faults so you can't really see how this all reverts back to me. I'm asking you not to zero in on Mellie's part in this either. I should never have run it is as simple as that. I love you and I want to share my life with you. I don't care in what capacity I just want you and I am so glad you want me too."
"Of course I want you Olivia. There is absolutely no doubt about that. You stop worrying about this thing it is handled. All you need to do just relax and rest. You are still healing from a concussion Olivia. Let it go for tonight. Rest Sweet Baby will you do that for me? Once you have been cleared to go home we will talk all of this out. You are being too hard on yourself Olivia. There are people to blame but not you. Will you do this for me just for tonight? Let it go just for tonight. I promise you we will air it all out as soon as the doctor clears you okay?"
"Of course anything for you, you are my knight in shining armor, you always have been. I have been so absorbed with trying to do the right thing when there really is no right thing in love and war. We will let it go for now and just deal with tonight. Will you lie down with me Fitz?" Olivia had a big smile on her face. She just wanted to hold him. She was lying of course. She wanted to jump his bones. She wanted to feel him moving inside her. She wanted to run her tongue along the blood filled length of him. She wanted to suck at the crown and hear him moan with pleasure.
Olivia struck the images of what she wanted from her mind. She couldn't have that tonight but she would go there one day soon. They were back together and they had a future. She continued on. She needed him here with her tonight. "I promise I won't try anything I know that the doctor monitors me from someplace he told me so. There is no voice with it though. I asked. Our conversations are private. Thank God for that right? Come here and lie with me. Hold me and tell me things that will make me happy. Tell me about our future, the one we talked about at Camp David. Tell me about our squishy mocha colored babies we are going to make. I need those visions in my head Fitz. I lost sight of them when I lost my way. But we are back at that place before I let Mellie into my head. You love me and I love you only you. I don't want my life to exist without you in it. We are going to make it work aren't we Fitz?"
The President pulled off his jacket and shirt. In his pants and tee-shirt he lay down beside her and pulled her into his arms. He hugged her tightly, brushed the hair from her brow, and kissed her there. He inhaled her scent. He prayed that she was going to forgive him for his part in this. He prayed she wasn't going to run or deny them again. He had made a mistake of gigantic proportions. He had endangered her life because he was afraid. So much of their relationship had suffered because of fear. They were afraid Mellie would find out. They were afraid America would find out. They had been afraid to look at each other in a crowd for too long for fear the love they felt for other would show in their eyes. They had forsaken stolen moments when they should have embraced them as the most precious of things. Any moments that they shared were sacred. For them the true nemesis of their love had been fear. They had to rid themselves of fear if they were to go forward from here.
God he loved so much. And nothing in this world would make him happier than to be free to pull her into his arms and start making the sweetest of love to her. He had denied himself pleasure waiting for her to return to him and now he was denied her touch because he was a jealous fool. He sighed and said another prayer. He had called on God a lot lately because he truly needed some guidance for his embattled soul. He looked down into her eyes and he could see that she sought reassurance that everything was going to be alright. The truth of the matter was that it was he that needed reassurance. Nonetheless he spoke these words. "Yes Olivia we are going to make this work because we are stronger than the forces that divide us. We are going to have our life together with our beautiful babies and everything else we have ever dreamed. It is going to happen. Sleep Sweet Baby all is going to be well."
Huck had taken Jake back to his place sat him down and had given him his options. Ballesston coward that he was chose number two of course. He wanted to leave the country he said. He wanted this phase of his life over and done. He had no family no one to contact. He had his staff from work with whom he was friendly but essentially he had no one. He wanted his assets sold and he wanted his money and he was gone. He gave Huck the list of his holdings. He had two homes. He owned a second home in Florida. He went down there on vacations and no one lived in it. He also had his two businesses. Ballesston had a will leaving his small fortune to be divided equally among two charities.
He was seeing a woman named Wendy two streets over but it was just a sexual relationship as far as he was concerned. He called her up and she either said yes or no. He wanted to go to Mexico. The man was capitulating too easily. Huck was trying to read him but he was a slick one. He had gone over the house with the man and he had found nothing further in reference to Olivia. The man had no safety deposit boxes anywhere. He kept all his dirt at his home.
Next they had gone to Olivia's apartment and stripped it of all equipment and then they returned back to his place. Huck asked him if he had a copy of the agreement he had made with the President. He didn't it had been a gentleman's agreement. They had shook hands on it there wasn't any paperwork. Of course Huck alreay knew the answers to his questions. The test for Ballesston had been how truthful would he be? Huck had suggested to the man that he just pack essentials and buy whatever he needed when he arrived at this final destination. Huck had booked the man on a flight to Cancun tomorrow at four in the afternoon. He had told the man when the final liquidation of his assets occurred a check would be sent to the resort hotel where he would be staying. From there he could determine his next move. He was free to do exactly as he chose once he left the country.
Jake had asked if there was a paper for him to sign saying he was never coming back to America or that he was to disavow ever knowing Olivia. There wasn't. There was nothing but the President's stipulations. The man at first said he wanted something in writing. Huck assured him that nothing like that was going to happen. Huck suggested he just follow orders and he could get out of this thing pain free from this point forward.
Jake did as he was told. He packed a small bag and laid out his clothes for his flight later in the afternoon. He lay down and placed his head on the pillow the agent had given him. He was handcuffed to the floor of his own office while a mad man liquidated his assets. He watched the man put his home and businesses up for sale. Agent Flynn calculated that after his businesses and homes were sold he would have around seven and a half million dollars to start his new life. It was obvious that Agent Flynn was a genius at the computer. He had everything in the works and going strong within hours. Jake was leaving his home for good today all over some Black chick he took a fancy to. He had misplayed the game for now. He closed his eyes and prayed that he got away from this man. he was a nut. Fitzgerald Grant had the ability to destroy his life and he was doing it and at this point there was nothing he could do. He closed his eyes this time to go to sleep.
As soon as Huck heard the man snoring he went into action. He inserted the needle into Ballesston's neck. Once he was assured the man was out cold he went to work on the next phase of his operation. And this was his phase of the operation. The President had been away from "the business" too long apparently. He was no more capable of recognizing a snake than Olivia was.
He had gone through the man's extensive collection of videos. He had other homemade videos of other women that probably had no idea they were being taped. There were from every aspect of the sexual spectrum. Ballesston was actually in some of the videos himself and it was obvious he was playing out for the camera. He knew he was being video-taped as he had sex with the different women. He had found video equipment in place in his own bedroom. And the most telling aspect of this was what he had found on the man's hard drive. He was indeed a predator. The fact that Olivia was his latest obsession was inconsequential. In his madness to account for his actions the fool was saying he was in love with her. There was no doubt that was what he said about all his victims.
Huck lifted the man's arms a couple of times to be sure he was out. He was. Huck placed the bag with the mosquitoes in it around the man's arm. He then taped the bag closed. Huck watched the mosquitoes feast on the man's arm. After about ten minutes you could tell the insects were gorged with blood. He removed the bag from his arm and destroyed the insects and the bag. He inspected the man's arm. He had at minimum eight to ten mosquito bites. The raised bumps on the man's skin would make excellent cover for his final dosage of medication. The insects had used a proboscis to extract blood from him. Huck would use a finite needle of similar size to insert medication that would inconspicuously look like another insect bite. The medication would be absorbed into the bloodstream while Mr. Balleston was en route to his new home. Huck decided to get some sleep as well. Ballesston aka Henrico Gorges would leave here by cab at one o'clock for the airport. He would be in the air at four. And so would end the saga of Jake Ballesston.
Huck had called for the taxi that would take Ballesston to the airport. The man had awakened from his nap and seemed surprised that the agent wasn't going with him to the airport. The agent advised him that a fellow agent would be taking over once he arrived at the airport. The agent wouldn't identify himself but he would be watching him to insure that he followed the outlined schedule. Huck advised him not to try anything because it would void the deal they had. Jake got into the cab thinking how he had ruined his life all over Olivia Pope who though no one had officially verified it, was the President's mistress. He still wondered if this were true why was she out looking for a dick? Some things he figured he would never know the answer to.
Huck was lying of course there wasn't any fellow agent but there was no doubt Ballesston believed there was. The man was a frightened coward he would get on the plane exactly as he was told to do. He would be too afraid to do anything other than what he had been told for maybe two or three years and then he would decide that he was smarter than Agent Flynn and the President and come up with some nefarious scheme. Huck knew this because it never failed in a person with the criminal element flowing through his or her veins.
Speaking of veins Huck's mind flashed back to the vial of Calcium Gluconate and the hypodermic needle had used earlier. It could be a tricky operation but he had done it before and it worked like a charm. He suspected this time wouldn't be any different. He had injected the drug underneath the insect bites. The perp will scratch the bites releasing the drug into his blood stream during the flight. At thirty thousand feet Mr. Henrico Gorges will suddenly not feel well. He will start to sweat and feel nauseous. He will turn up the air conditioning because an overwhelming sensation of intense warmth has covered his entire body. He would more than likely start to vomit as his body starts to respond to what is happening to it. His body would be tingling. Initially his heart will be racing feeling like it would beat right out of his chest. Next it will start to beat out a rhythm skipping beat here and there but eventually it will slow down. Somewhere in all of this the man will realize he has paid the ultimate price for the bad deeds he had done in the life and he will put his head back in his seat and he will take his last breath.
Huck closed the cab door and spoke his parting words to the doomed man. "Mr. Ballesston I wish you well in your new life. It is best that you stick to the script if you wish for your transition to run smoothly. None of this is personal but you must have realized that at some point you would have to pay the piper for the tunes you have played throughout your life. Again I wish you well and good luck."
"Oh but it was personal Agent Flynn. This in the end was all about the President and whatever he felt or was feeling for Olivia Pope. If he had been honest right from the start when I specifically asked him if this was personal things would have been different. But all of that is neither here or there, I will be the scapegoat for all of this. I am over it. I just want out of this mess. One mistake and my entire life is done? It hardly seems fair Agent Flynn."
Ballesston was steadily scratching at the mosquito bites on his arm. They were red, raised, and angry. He was going to town on the arm no doubt releasing more and more of the toxin into his body. He was angry and his real persona was easing out just a little. "What in the hell got into the house last night? I was eaten alive by mosquitoes or something. I have bites all over my arm."
Huck looked at the man and didn't feel the least bit sorry for him. He was a predator. He still thought he was the smartest person in the room. "I don't know I seem to have a couple of bites too. I've been scratching all afternoon. Speaking of what isn't fair Mr. Ballesston this isn't your first ride at the rodeo. Olivia Pope isn't the first woman you have done this to and you and I know this. I found your collection. What did you think was going to happen to your things? They would be sold with your home thrown out with the trash? I am in a professional organization Mr. Ballesston we see all we know all. Your game is up. Be grateful that you don't get to stay here and pay for your perverted crimes. So save your life isn't fair spiel I know what you are!"
Jake looked up at the man and said nothing else. He sat back in the cab and it took off. He took a resigning breath because at that moment he realized with certainty he would never see his home again. He would begin his new life in Mexico and eventually he may head to Europe. Based on what the man had just said he had better not even think about coming back to the United States of America.
Huck had gone back inside the house to finish up this dirty business. He was glad it was over. Olivia had been avenged and countless other women as well. Once it had been certified that Jake Ballesston was never going to return he would eventually be declared dead. The man had no living relatives. In his research of the man Huck had found out that Jacob Ballesston wasn't even his real name. He had been born someone else. His mother had died giving birth to a younger sister. He had loved the little girl and had helped his father raise her. However the father started molesting his daughter as soon as his son went away to college. Sexually abused since she was eight she had taken her own life at sixteen. Shortly after that the father had mysteriously died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The son left town and was never heard from again. He had left Kansas and emerged on the east coast as someone else.
Ironically in the event of his death Ballesston had left everything he owned to charity. And the charities listed in his will both involved the sexual abuse of women and children. So at least he had tried to atone for his sins. However there was little doubt in Huck's mind that abuse possibly as a child had turned Ballesston into the predator he had become. All that Huck had put in place was starting to take effect this very night. He had destroyed the entire tape collection and removed all traces that he had ever been in the residence and he left.
It was a new day and Dr. Wagner had called to the room of Allyson Blue early to advise that he would be there later in the evening with the results of test done late yesterday. The patient had been advised she was probably going to get to go home after a required final evaluation was done today. She had shared the information with the President who had held her throughout the night. He was happy that Olivia was okay and she wasn't going to have any lasting complications from this mess with Jake. The doctor would come to this room and pronounce her able to go home and resume her life. It was what he wanted, things back to normal. He wanted Olivia back with him and by his side. He wanted her back as his lover and confidante. He wanted a lifetime with her. But dark days were coming and he knew it. Olivia had fallen back to sleep whereas he had been awake all night long. Fear of losing her again was foremost on his mind.
It took the President a moment to realize that one of his phones was ringing he was so deep in thought. "Hello this is the President."
"Mr. President what in the hell are you doing. It has come to my attention that you have been in and out of a certain hospital and in close contact with a certain patient being treated there under a special protocol provision that under law is reserved for high level government officials. What is going on Mr. President? Because as much as I know you love Olivia Pope she isn't in that category yet. What have you done Fitz?"
"Hold on Cy, give me a minute." The President disengaged from his embrace and got up and walked from the room into the hallway. "Cy it is true I put Olivia into that protocol and had her brought to this location. She was hurt Cy and I needed to be free to see her and know what was going on. If I have to answer for it I will. If I can't use my power to help the woman I love most in this world what good is it? I would do it again Cy and I think you know that."
"I do know that Mr. President. But you have me here to help you with stuff. You should have called me. This may all be in the clear but I could have facilitated it for you and kept you from any future scrutiny. I am here to assist you Fitz and keep you out of trouble. I know how much you love her and you weren't necessarily acting rationally. Let me in this loop with you Fitz so I can smooth out all the edges."
"Honestly Cy I don't believe that technically I could face any consequences outright but by all means do what needs to be done. I can't deal with that right now."
"Is she alright? The lockdown on this secret operation has been exceptionally thorough. However I have of elements of discovery that even INTEL can't break."
"She is alright Cy. She suffered a concussion but she is going to be okay. In fact I see her doctor coming down the hallway. I believe she is going home either tonight or early tomorrow morning. Please do what you have to do Cy to keep this under wraps. I would have come to you eventually but things happened so fast I had to make decisions very quickly. In fact when and if Olivia is released tonight or tomorrow I intend to go home with her. She was coming back to me Cyrus when she was hurt. We have a lot to discuss. I need you to keep Sally in check and hold down the fort. Olivia and I need to talk and iron some things out. Once we have done that I will return to the White House. Can you do that for me Cy?"
"Of course I can Mr. President. I didn't mean to jump down your throat. But there is a reason I am known as your right hand man. I ask that you remember that Fitz. But most of all remember that I am also your friend. I've got this. Please let Olivia know that I wish her well. I'll talk to you later."
Fitz started walking down the hall toward the doctor. He acknowledged him with a smile and said, "I have to assume the news is good Dr. Wagner, Olivia seems to be very much herself. I wanted to thank-you for the way you cared for her and the guarded discretion you have shown. I am very grateful and I am in your debt. So will Ms Blue be released today?"
"Yes I am glad to say she will be. Ms Blue has been an exemplary patient. She has a brilliant mind, I became aware of that even before she aced so many of my tests. I can see why she is indeed an asset to the nation and one of your closest confidantes. I have been pleased to do my job these last few days."
"Is there anything in particular that needs to be done to ensure that Ms Blue continues on the road to complete recovery. I want to make sure that is done and I am in a position to do so. There is some news regarding how her injury occurred that may be very upsetting to her. I don't want her to experience any untoward stress. My question to you is do you feel bad news could affect her in a consequential way? A set-back for Ms Blue is out of the question."
"Don't underestimate Ms Blue. She is a very strong woman. Her body is on the mend. Her brain is functioning like a well oiled machine. She will be fine. I would say she is more than ninety percent recovered already. Trust your instincts with her."
"Okay doctor I trust your expertise on the subject let's tell the patient the good news!"
Doctor Wagner told Olivia that he was releasing her today. She had only suffered a minor insult to her brain. Her official diagnosis was a mild concussion. She had been observed for several days and all appeared as it should be. He was releasing her. He wanted her to stay at home for at least another week without the rigors of a job. He wasn't exactly sure what her job entailed but a week of rest and relaxation would be a good move for a person that had been concussed.
Olivia was glad to get the news. She could go home and Fitz would go with her and they would renew their commitment to each other. She had come out of this basically unscathed. Of course she had some bruising of her ego and she could no longer trust her gut. She was going to have to rely more on investigative reporting and less on her natural instincts. However her business and things related to it weren't on her mind. She wanted to know if she could resume her normal activities. She wanted to be with Fitz tonight. They had been apart long enough. To be blunt she wanted the type of release only he could give her. She needed him and he needed her. This situation had obviously upset him a lot. He was very uneasy and he was keeping something from her.
What that was exactly she didn't know. She suspected it was about the way the Jake Ballesston issue was or had been resolved. She had asked him to stay out of it but she could sense he was very much involved. She suspected that Fitz had meted out the punishment for the horrible man himself or at the very least directed Huck to do his bidding. As she had told Fitz earlier she had realized that even with all that had happened no one should be seriously injured or killed behind her acting like a fool. At this point she didn't even want to know what happened to the fiend. She just wanted to get to her place and into her bed and have the President of the United States in it with her.
"Doctor Wagner how soon can I resume all of my normal activities. I can easily do a week of rest I probably need it but as for normal daily activities am I cleared?" She was asking in front of Fitz because she knew he could be very solicitous of her and she was not going to have the invalid card played tonight. She was very willing to go to bed but she fully intended to have Fitz in there with her. Olivia needed to be with him to know that nothing had changed between them. She looked at Fitz and he was blushing. It was obvious what she was asking, he knew it and so did the doctor. She didn't even care. By now it should be clear to even the fly on the wall that something personal laid between her and the President.
"You are free to be yourself. There is nothing that should hinder you from any kind of activity as long as it is not too vigorous or stressful. I think you are good to go. Be your normal self. You have been an exemplary patient, Good luck, you will be fine." He then turned to the President and said out loud, "It has been an honor sir." He also mouthed silently to the President, "She won't break sir." He turned and left the room.
Olivia knew what she wanted, she knew what they both wanted and needed. She went up behind Fitz and embraced him. "Fitz isn't it wonderful? I can go home and please tell me you are coming with me. These months apart have been torturous we need to end it tonight. Come home with me and make love to me Fitz I need you!"
He turned into her welcoming arms. They entered into a passionate kiss. They were both on fire for the other. The estrangement had taken a toll on them both they were boiling over with need. He had molded her body to his and he felt alive for the first time in months. She had grabbed his ass and was giving as good as she got. They were mating with their tongues. There was sucking, plunging, and nipping. Fitz finally opened his eyes and opened his mind to what was happening. He had no right to hold her this way until he told her the truth. He drew back.
"Olivia it is wonderful. Let's get you out of here. We will go to your place and talk. I'll have a detail take you home first and I will join you shortly."
"Fitz let's not talk first. Let's talk afterwards. In fact let's not talk until long after, let's say after round two." Olivia had become very frank about their sex life. She was never shy about saying what she wanted and how she wanted it. "Let me get dressed and let's get out of here! I have missed you so much."
"I know you have Sweet Baby just as I have missed you. I am going to make the arrangements. I will have Tom drive you to your place. I have a few loose ends to tie up but I'll be there as quickly as I can okay?"
"Hurry Fitz, hurry to me."
Fitz left the room and told Tom of his plans. He wanted Olivia taken home and he would join her later. He was going to the White House to chill for few moments and get his bearings. He was paralyzed with fear. He wasn't sure what he would do if she didn't understand his motives for his association with Jake Ballesston. They had said they would talk things out before making any rash decisions in the future. But would Olivia even remember that once she realized his part in this farce. There were no what ifs now there was only truth and they had promised each other that. Olivia wanted him as much as he wanted her but he couldn't even think of making love with her with what was lying between them. He had to tell her the unvarnished truth.
Olivia was back in her apartment. She showered and dressed in little of nothing underneath her silky black robe. Fitz was coming to her tonight. She had dreamed of him so many nights. She had cried with her finger on the Fitz phone wanting to call him and say she was sorry for leaving him. She wanted back what they had shared all of it; the camaraderie, the invincible team they made in the oval, the friendship, and the loving. Oh my god how she had missed the loving! Missing what they shared had sent her on that failed mission looking quote on quote for a "replacement." It was one of the dumbest things she had done in her life. And it could have altered her life as she knew it.
Her life had a chance to get back on track. Fitz had forgiven her for her misdeed and he was coming to her tonight as soon as he could. She knew he had something on his mind and she hadn't been able to read it yet. He had shut her out for the moment and he wanted to talk it out. She was all for talking it out but she wanted him in her bed first. Love-making would essentially heal them and they needed healing. This entire thing had rubbed them both raw. To put it bluntly they needed "sexual healing" and she wasn't ashamed to say it. In fact where was that Marvin Gaye cut? She was going to play it for them at some point tonight.
Meanwhile the President was at his desk. He had come back to the White House and met with Cyrus. He had told him the entire truth. They had nailed down all the particulars as to where his course of actions could take them if the true nature of it was revealed. Cyrus more or less assured the President that nothing was going to happen he had taken the reins on this hours ago. It was handled. Cyrus looked his old friend in the eye and spoke freely with him.
"Mr. President I know I have jumped down your throat a lot over the last six months. As much as I root for you and Olivia I have also chided you about the relationship. I know there is nothing or no one that can stop it. It is meant to be. This love between you two has a heartbeat of its own. As the song says it will go on. I want you to be happy Mr. President and I know firsthand you can't be happy without her. You told me weeks ago you were out of your rut and I believe you. You are back. I believe you truly see that you have a life outside of Olivia. She can be your everything, but she can't be you. You will love her undoubtedly to your dying day but you must learn to live a life in conjunction with the love you have for her and be you. She has come back to you and you think you may have screwed that up by paying an old friend to follow her around and take pictures. That is a slippery slope I must admit. But you tell her the truth and go from there. Olivia is a lawyer a very good one. But so are you. Present your case and get her to see what has happened through your eyes. She loves you Fitz remember that!" Those were his parting words.
A few minutes after Cyrus left the President's phone rang. "Yes Lauren."
"Sir Mrs. Grant is out here asking to see you. She has just seen Mr. Beene come out of your office and she is insisting that she be allowed in to see you. I have stepped away from my desk Sir, Lauren whispered. What do you want me to do Sir? She knows that you are in there Mr. President. I know you have said you don't wish to see her, but she is insisting Sir."
"Send her in Lauren." He sat at his desk waiting. He really didn't have time for this shit. He thought they had said it all days ago. He had made himself clear he wanted nothing to do with her. In turn she had gone on a rampage and destroyed their bathroom. The clean-up and repair had been pricey but he had paid for it out of his own pocket. He was done sugar-coating this warped marriage it was shit and it should end.
"So where in the hell have you been? Do you pay everyone in this White House to lie for you? Wait don't open your mouth to lie. I can smell that tacky scent your whore wears all over you. So that is why you turned down sleeping with your lawfully wedded wife because you are fucking Olivia Pope again? You go on and continue your little affair because I promise you that is all you will ever have. I will NEVER give you a divorce. Do you hear me?"
"Yes I hear you Mellie. Why do you humiliate yourself like this? You know I love another woman. You know I have never loved you. We have nothing at all to show for over twenty years marriage but two children conceived for political purpose. You are unhappy and I am unhappy yet you want to continue this shell of a marriage? It defies all logic and reasoning. The sight of you makes me sick and there is no doubt that you hate me. Yet you want to hang on to this marriage to punish me because I can't love you? Your actions are deranged Mellie and shameful. Sooner or later people are going to find out about Olivia because there is no way in hell I will ever give her up. You won't divorce me fine. You explain why you won't divorce a man that obviously doesn't want you. I personally don't give a fuck what you do. Is that all you came here to say? I have an appointment."
"So you will continue your humiliation of me by continuing to have sex with Olivia Pope all over this White House and anywhere else you can? You have no regard for the twenty plus years I have supported you and carried you to this exalted place? I am the mother of your children. Have you no regard for me at all?"
He looked at her brimming with disgust. She had come to Camp David and tore them apart. She had ruined their happiness. Olivia had run because of what she had instigated that night. He had been lost without her for these six months. He was so distraught that he had neglected everything in his life and had been on a drunken bender for months. He had come out of his stupor and made the mistake of enlisting Jake Ballesston to take pictures of Olivia so he could stay close to her. He was willing to take the blame for his part in all that had happened but it had begun with this hateful woman standing in front of him.
"I am afraid I do not have one iota of regard for you. You are a manipulative bitch Mellie and you are done manipulating me. Expose my affair or whatever you want I won't play the game with you. I want out. I have for years. This façade of ours is all for your benefit so you can save face. You want to be First Lady. The Presidency is an option for me. If I can't have Olivia then I don't want or need it. So you do whatever you want to do. However I suggest you stay out of my lane. I will mow you down. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!"
"So you want to push me to the limit all for a piece of ass. What is it that she does to you? Why can't you stay the hell away from her? You are supposed to put me first. I am your wife!"
"I have to go. What is between me and Olivia has a lot to do with sex but mainly it is about love. And you still don't get that do you? I love her. Every breath I take is for her. My heart beats because of her. Think about it Mellie, for over twelve years I never touched another woman. You above all people should know that I don't have sex just because I can. Sex for me is more than knocking your rocks off with just any piece of ass as you call it. That is why I never touched YOU in all those years. Love and sex go together. It is about sharing your body with another human being that you love. What you refuse to see is that I can't stay away from her and that you are eliminated from the equation. Do what you have to do Mellie, as I said I have to go."
"I despise you with every fiber of my being. And I will never give you a divorce. Tell that to your precious Olivia Pope. You let her know she will forever be a bridesmaid and never I a bride. I will personally see to it." With that salvo she walked from the room and slammed the door.
Fitz picked up the phone and told Tom he would be ready to go in ten minutes. His wife was a piece of work. She was determined to make his life miserable. But he wasn't going to let her. He was going to work on getting him and Olivia back in place. They needed to heal this rift between and get on with their lives. Mellie was going to give him a divorce she just didn't know it yet. He would break her. Her bravado was good. But she would rather walk on hot coals that have the true nature of their marriage revealed. Image was everything to Mellie. He was going to rock her boat one day soon.
The ride to Olivia's was short. About a year ago Olivia had found a way for him to discreetly enter her apartment building through the basement of the building get in the service elevator and arrive three feet from her door. Of course Olivia didn't know that her two closest neighboring apartments had been bought out and she effectively no longer had any neighbors. Fitz was nervous as hell and it had nothing to do with that free-for-all he had just had with his wife. Nor did he care if someone in this building did happen to see him in the hallway about now. Those were the little things. What he needed was a miracle. His needed Olivia to love him enough to forgive him for this mess.
Behind the door where he now stood was the woman he loved more than life. He was going to have to tell her the part he had played in the Jake Ballesston fiasco. She had called out to him moments ago asking where he was. "I am on my way Livvie," he had said. "Hurry Fitz please hurry. I need you so much," she had said to him. Their telepathy was working well again. He closed his eyes and he could envision how she was waiting for him. When he had left her earlier at the hospital she had whispered into his ear what she wanted and how.
None of what either of them wanted mattered at the moment. Their reunion wasn't going to happen tonight if ever. There was a discussion to be had and he was going to have to initiate it. He couldn't make love to her without telling her what he had done. In fact sex was the farthest thing from his mind right now. Olivia could reject him outright. She could tell him to get out and never come back. She could slap him right across the face. She had done that once in the White House when she had wrongly believed he had slept with that girl from his campaign. He would accept anything from her as long as she didn't leave him again. He pulled out his keys to unlock the door. He looked at Tom and said, "I hope not to see you for a while but as you know that is debatable."
"Good luck Sir. I'm sure everything will be alright."
Fitz unlocked the door and he went inside. He knew she was in the bedroom and also knew she was lying on her bed just about naked waiting for him. He couldn't even say God why me, because he knew why. He was a jealous fool and he had hired someone to follow and photograph his woman and that man had been a predator. There was no preamble to this madness he had to walk in there and tell Olivia the truth. She was lying on the bed waiting. The thong and matching strip of cloth barely covering her nipples left little to the imagination. He closed his eyes trying to dispel the vision.
"Fitz I thought you would never get here. Get yourself undressed and in here. We will talk later."
"Livvie please we need to talk. It is very important. It can't wait. Could you put on something so we can talk?"
Olivia almost choked on her own spit. Something terrible was up. Did he just ask her to cover herself? There was something wrong she had sensed it the entire time she was in the hospital. He wasn't quite himself. He still loved her she could sense that. But he was troubled about something. It was Mellie she was sure of it. Had he gone back to her bed when she left him? What was going on? It was indeed serious because if it weren't they would be about to make love right now.
She sat up reached over and pulled one of his navy tees out of the nightstand drawer. She came over to the edge of the bed and she sat there looking at him. She was frightened now because Fitz looked so pained as if something was hurting him to his core. Her fear had sucked the joy she had felt when she heard his key in the lock from her. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes and prayed to herself, "Please God don't let anything be wrong. I love him. I made a mistake. I never should have run from him. Please don't take him away from me. Give us another chance."
He heard her thoughts. She was blaming herself. "Olivia I can't say this but one way. I ask you to hear me out before you decide where we are. Wait until after you have heard all of what I have to say. About two months ago I made a judgment call and it was a bad one. You left me and you wouldn't return my phone calls. Your friends wouldn't tell me anything and you refused to talk to me no matter what I did. I was lost without you Olivia. I started drinking again. Cyrus was effectively running the country and I was drowning my sorrows in booze."
"I had received a letter from an old Navy buddy of mine that lives in the DC area. We had been friends with a lot in common back in the day so I invited him to the White House. We talked old times. We exchanged info on our lives and he left. It had been over four months since I had seen you and I was dying inside. I needed to see you Olivia. My mind was working overtime I thought you had found someone else. I was jealous as hell. My naval buddy had a surveillance business. He had told me he was the best at what he did. So one day after drinking and moping I called him back to the White House Olivia and I asked him to follow you around and take pictures of you and report back to me."
"I wanted to know what you were doing and if you were seeing anyone. I wanted to see your face. I missed you. I thought it was a harmless thing to do Olivia asking him to take pictures of you leaving your apartment, going to work, and out on the town and report back to me. After seven weeks he had nothing but pictures of you doing your job and going home. He said your life was ordinary. You went to work and you came home. There was no other man. I was so relieved Olivia. I asked him to close the case."
"At that point I was coming out of my drunken stupor and I had started see things more clearly. You would come back to me I knew that now I would just have to wait. And I was waiting Olivia and then I received that call from Huck. I almost died on the spot when he told me you had been hurt. I had you transported to a hospital where I could have control over the situation. I sat by your side waiting for you to wake-up and tell me what happened to you. And when you did I couldn't believe what you were saying. The nightmare you were living, the concussion you received, the invasion of your privacy all of it was because of me!"
"The man that assaulted you Olivia, I hired him. I brought Jake Ballesston into our lives. I swear to you Olivia I ended the case after seven weeks. He had wanted to do the job for free but I paid him. I asked him what he would have charged a normal client he told me and I paid him double. I had those pictures of you and I thought it was over. I never saw him again until Huck found him and brought him in for questioning a couple of days ago. He admitted to me and Huck that he decided to go inside your apartment and rig it up on his own. He thought to impress the President of the United with his abilities Olivia not his old buddy Fitz Grant."
"That too was my fault Olivia because I didn't tell him the real reason I wanted you followed. I didn't tell him I was madly in love with you. I implied that you were suspected of crimes against the republic Olivia. I inferred to him that you were a criminal and I didn't want to bring the government into it yet. I lied to him Olivia. Whether the truth would have made a difference I don't know. Whatever his reasoning was he decided he would invade your privacy on his own. I pray you believe me when I say I would never have given such an order to invade your privacy and tape you in your bedroom. I will admit I was desperate Olivia but I would have never done that."
"So this has been eating me alive that I and I alone are responsible for all that has happened to you. You could have been raped or killed because of me. I put your life in the hands of someone I thought I knew. I thought he was a man of honor and integrity. He had been when I had known him years ago. He would never harm a woman or degrade her as he had done to you. He taped you and became obsessed with you Olivia. He told me he fell in love with you. He said he lost touch with reality after he observed you naked and with that sex toy. He admitted it all, even his perversion. I am hurt to my soul that I had any part in this. I'm not sure that even I can live with what I have done. I'm not sure I can forgive myself for the part I have played in this. So I can only imagine what you are feeling. I saw the disgust on your face as I was speaking. I am so sorry Olivia. And I know you may never be able to forgive me. I understand that. But I am asking you to try and if you ever do please let me know. I have waited my entire life for you Olivia. I can wait. I will wait. I hope that one day you will understand what I did and why and you will forgive me." He had made no move to get close to her since he had started talking. His eyes had held unshed tears that had started to flow down his face. He turned away from her and wiped his eyes and he turned back around.
She was just looking at him saying nothing. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Jake Ballesston and everything about him lay at the feet of Fitzgerald Grant. His jealousy had propelled him to this level? He had hired a man to follow her and take pictures of her instead of coming to her himself and demanding she talk to him? She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Fitz had let his sorrow and loss lead him to this, hiring a man to follow her around? For the love of God did neither one of these highly educated people in this relationship, in this room, not have a bit of sense?
And she right now with her righteous indignation at Fitz was priceless and meritless. She had dressed in her most provocative clothing night after night with the intent of getting a man to fuck her. She had put her own life in danger more so that Fitz had. She was thirty-three years old and she knew better. She loved Fitzgerald Grant why in the world had she run from him and denied all that she had felt for him. Why had she let his vindictive wife dictate where they would go?
Of course it had floored her listening to Fitz admit to his role in this fiasco but what did it all mean in the long run? Did she love the man standing in front of her any less? Not one bit. She loved him more because another type of man would have gotten into bed with her and told her nothing and she knew that. Her man was not every other man you met on the street, he was special. She had told him she was all in and she was. He was standing there just looking at her and he was frightened. This six foot two man that was almost twice her weight had fear in his eyes. He had wiped away tears. She had seen him do that!
He let out a deep sign and said, "Olivia I am going to go now and let you digest all I have said. I know it is terrible to take in and to a degree confusing. But please don't lose sight of the fact that I love you and I always will. If you can see at any time in the future that you can forgive let me know. I can imagine your trust in me is completely shot. I can't blame my actions on the alcohol I had been drinking for months or anything else but me. I was a jealous fool and I acted like one. Remember I do love you Olivia with all my heart." He turned and started to walk away.
"Where the hell do you think you are going Fitzgerald Thomas Grant?" She had promised herself she wasn't going to cry. But tears were streaming down her face. "You don't get to plead your case you big lout and I don't get to plead mine. I did some bad things in this fiasco too. I was as much to blame for what happened to me as you were. I told you what I was doing out there what I was hoping to accomplish. I should never have been on the streets of DC looking for a man. It is the most foolish thing in the world and I see that now."
"Olivia I told have you that you have a right to your own identity. Your body is your own. I am still a married man in spite of all I have promised you. I really have no rights where you are concerned. I can't demand anything from you. Of course I want to. I want to be the only one with the right to hold you and love you. I want to hold you only to myself. But I am in a deal with a devil and as of today I haven't been able to extract myself from a plot devised by my father and that he still executes from the grave. Why didn't I wait for you to show up? That is a question I will ask myself everyday for the rest of my life."
"Fitz when you got tied up in this Mellie thing I was only ten years old and you had no idea I was out there waiting for you someday. We both have made mistakes but the one I won't make tonight is letting you walk out that door. You have told me on several occasions that you will never let me go. Well I feel the same way Fitz I love you just as much and I will never let you go either. I understand what you did and why. I don't really expect you to understand what I did because to be frank I don't understand it myself. But I quickly realized I didn't want any of those men out there and that included Jake Ballesston because you are it for me Fitzgerald Grant, I just want you!" She jumped up from the bed and ran to him then and she jumped into his outstretched arms.
He crushed her to him and he breathed in her scent. Oh god she had not tossed him out. She loved him enough to forgive him. "Sweet Baby I am so sorry. I was afraid you wouldn't believe me that I hadn't asked to him to tape you."
"Fitz I know what a fundamentally honest man you are. And I have every reason to believe that Ballesston was not. You would never lie about anything like this. Plus love means never having to say you are sorry. You taught me that. We love each other you and I, and we are moving on. I promise you it is over for me. I haven't any reason to mention it again. Whatever you decided to do about this unfortunate turn of events I need never know. It is over. You and I are back together aren't we? That is all that matters isn't it?"
"Yes Livvie that is all that matters. You and I are back together." Right at that moment his stomach let out the biggest growl. He was slightly embarrassed it was so loud.
"Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III when was the last time you have eaten anything?"
"The night you were injured"
"Fitz that was four days ago. What were you thinking? You were watching me eat in the hospital and you were hungry?"
"Not really Olivia. I lost my appetite when I realized the part I played in what had happened and I just lost the desire to eat. I hadn't really thought about it until just now. To be honest Olivia I thought you would run again and I am not sure I could have borne it. These six months without you have been the hardest thing I have ever done. Eating was just something I did because it was necessary. I have actually lost eighteen pounds Olivia. It just occurred to me I hadn't eaten when my stomach growled."
"Well you are going to have to eat. You were being ridiculous not to eat you know that don't you?"
"Of course I know that woman that considers popcorn a food group," he said laughing out loud!
"Fitz go home. Go to the White House and get you some breakfast. Go to Cook and let her fill you up with her good cooking. The sun is about to rise and you need to be gone from here anyway. Go home and eat and be the President of the United States today. I will rest just as the doctor ordered and I will see you tonight."
"Olivia I would stay with you today in broad daylight you know. I really don't care who knows about us. I love you. You are the most important thing in my life."
"I believe you and I love you back just the same way. But I don't have the ability to feed you here. I don't have any real food here but some popcorn, old salad greens, and a couple of frozen diet meals. Go home. One more day isn't going to kill us. We will have our reunion tomorrow night I promise. Go home and eat!"
He drew her into a very passionate kiss. It was a real kiss meant to speak of love and promise and everything that was good about their relationship. He had both hands on her backside. He had forgotten she was basically naked under that tee shirt and grabbing her naked butt had filled him with such intense lust he had hardened to stone. He backed away and looked into the eyes of this beautiful woman he loved so much and he said, "I had better go right now."
"Yes you had better go right now. Call me after you have eaten okay? I love you Fitz more than anything."
"I love you too. I will call you later. And I promise you I will be back tonight." With that he left her standing in her bedroom in his tee shirt.
They were going to be alright. She had done the right thing in sending him away. The man hadn't been eating or sleeping because of this mess. It was over now. He needed to recoup they both did. Delaying their sexual reunion had been hard to do but it was the right thing to do. After all they had a lifetime to indulge in sexual activity. Olivia returned to her bedroom and slid beneath the sheets. Her soul was at peace she was going to sleep. They were going to be alright.
Tom had been standing outside of Olivia Pope's apartment for approximately thirty-five minutes when he had the click of the lock. The President only staying inside for thirty-five minutes wasn't exactly a novelty, sometimes it did happen, but rarely. It could mean that Ms Pope didn't accept the President's explanation of where and why they were at this juncture or it could mean something else. He hoped for the sake of his friend it was something else. The man didn't need any more suffering.
The President emerged from the apartment and he was smiling which was a good thing. The President looked up at Tom with such a big grin on his face that Tom could only smile back. "She is sending me home to eat Tom. I haven't eaten for almost four days and I didn't even realize it. We are going to be alright Tom. We are going to be alright.