AN: Ok, so I have been off the radar for quite a while now…SORRY! Life happened and a lot of things changed in my life in an instant….I'm ok, just a lot of adjusting to do.
FYI: I have a bit of writer's block on TFTH but I hoping my mojo comes back soon since I finally have time to sit and write tonight.
Without further ado…
Happy Reading!
XOXO
TBS
CH 10
Olivia took a seat beside Harper, pulling at imaginary lint on her sweater. Fitz shuffled his feet and finally took a seat in the chair beside Harper's bed.
"I don't want any more secrets. PLEASE… I just want the truth. Please tell me what's going on-in fact, since I have nothing but TIME on my hands, how about you touch on you guys' previous relationship too. Being as though I have a right to know since I am a PRODUCT of it." Harper's tone was condescending, but she didn't mean for it to be. Her eyes were at the brink of tears and her ears were beet red, which was a signature Grant signal for 'I'M PISSED."
Olivia lifted her head ready to put Harper back in her place as a child, but when she locked eyes with the teenager, she felt nothing but guilt.
Fitz took a deep breath and sat straight up with his hands in fists under his chin and elbows on his knees.
Olivia took a deep breath and began….
Flashback
14 Years ago…
Olivia stood at the counter in her bathroom. She felt like she was going to vomit as she stared at all five of the positive pregnancy tests in front of her. She felt hot tears spill from her eyes and her hands absent-mindedly made their way to her stomach.
She thought back to the last time she had saw him. Smelled him. Tasted him. FELT him. She missed him so much in the last few weeks and now she could understand why. She was never the type to get attached to a man, but this one had made her fall. HARD. Putting up her defenses wasn't a hard thing to do back then, so breaking up with him wasn't as bad as she thought it would have been.
Craving him was a totally different story.
Olivia grabbed her cell phone as she slid down the wall in front of her toilet. She called the one person she knew would help her think straight.
"Liv…What's up?" Abby asked.
Silence.
"Olivia?"
Olivia felt her throat tighten as she began to try to form a sentence. She heard shuffling of covers and keys, and a door slamming before she heard another door open. She was never more thankful that Abby lived across the hall than she was today.
Abby kept the phone at her ear as she searched all rooms for Olivia. When she passed the bathroom, she backed up slowly and turned to face her best friend.
"Hunny?" Abby asked as she hung up her phone and sat it on the counter without looking down.
Olivia looked into Abby's eyes and began to sob uncontrollably. Abby took this as her cue to hug her friend and she held onto her until the cries stopped wracking her body. When Olivia tried to stand, Abby stood straight up and gave Olivia her hand to use as leverage. THAT'S when she saw the tests.
FUCK, Abby thought.
As if Olivia could read Abby's mind, she said, "Abby…what am I gonna do?"
Abby snatched her head around and gazed at Olivia. "What do you THINK? You need to call him!"
Olivia felt her heart break all over again as she replayed his final words to her.
'I just-I need to be alone. I'm not good for you. You obviously don't believe me when I say I'm not with any other women and that's fine. My reputation precedes me….but please believe me when I say I love you. More than life itself, Livvie…'
"I can't. I can't be with a man who doesn't love me. You've seen the news! He stays in the arms of another woman. I don't want my child to be mixed up in some crazy harsh celebrity world around God know what woman because he couldn't keep it in his pants! What if we DON'T work? Then I'll have some ill-mannered thirsty groupie playing step mom? Abby, you know me better than that."
"LIV, LISTEN to yourself! If you didn't see him do anything wrong, why don't you believe him?" Abby was confused.
"Because just the week before during an argument, he showed me a HICKEY! I DAMN sure didn't put it on his neck and he was drunk when he showed it to me….as if it was a badge of pride or some shit! I don't want anything to do with that lifestyle. I don't wanna be stuck at home while he's out in the street singing to every female that smiles at him while I'm singing my 'shoulda, coulda, wouldas.'
"Liv,-"
"Abby, PLEASE. Please support me on this? I have to protect this child. God knows it didn't ask to be made, but it's coming and I'm KEEPING IT."
Present
Harper sat shocked. She looked back and forth between her mother and who she was beginning to know more as her father.
"SO, you didn't tell him because you wanted to-"
"Protect you." Olivia finished.
"And, you swore you were in love with mom and wouldn't cheat, but-"
"I honestly don't remember much of that being as though I was drunk, but I guess I did." Fitz finished for her.
"And NEITHER of you thought of what this might do to the CHILD in the end?" Harper tried to remain calm. She was growing more and more upset, but she knew she had no business yelling at her mother.
"Harper, I know I made mistakes. I don't require my teenage daughter to point them out to me." Olivia started, "But I am trying to fix what I did. I wanted to fix it from the moment I laid eyes on you, but I didn't want you to be known as FTGIII's outside child. I couldn't subject you to that."
Harper grew quiet. She nodded her head and picked at an imaginary hangnail on her fingers.
Olivia stood, smoothed out her jeans, and cleared her throat.
"Harp, we can and WILL elaborate more on this very soon. Right now, we need to ask you something."
Olivia stood to go around to Fitz and placed her hand on his shoulders.
"The way I-WE see it, there's no way to put the flames out now. We need to come out and be as truthful as we possibly can. If we tell the truth they have nothing to hold over our heads or dangle in front of us."
Harper nodded yet again. Fitz noticed her calm demeanor and stored that away for later.
"Is this something you can handle, Harp?"
Harper looked at her mother, then into the matching set of eyes that looked like hers .
"Harper, listen. I know I made mistakes in this too. I am NOT innocent. Not by a LONG shot. I want you to know- both of you- that I love you both very much. I never stopped loving your mother and I loved you since I realized you were mine…Hell, even before that. I am NOT going anywhere, but I agree with your mother. The way to keep the craziness in check is to come clean."
Harper weighed her options. She was stunned that they wanted her input on whether or not to release the information that Fitz was in fact her father, but respected and understood their reasoning since it DID directly affect her.
Olivia sat back beside her daughter and grabbed her hand. Fitz took the other and the family of three sat quietly as Harper decided what to do. At only 13, she was mature way beyond her years and had the analytical skill set of her mother.
After about 3 minutes of silence, Harper finally spoke so quietly, both her parents had to lean in to understand…
"Do what you have to do."
AN: Yeah…IDK how I feel about this chapter. TFTH is rough right now and this one is getting better. On the flip side, check out Take My breath Away….(yeah I started a new one…lol) and let me know what you think! Until next time….
Happy reading!
XOXO
