Hey! Yep, another update! I couldn't get this scene out of my head so…yeah…here ya go! Also, *spoiler alert* if you haven't heard "Like I'm gonna lose you" by Meghan Trainor Ft. John Legend, please listen to it about 2/3 down the story…..hehehe!

Happy Reading!

XOXO

TBS

CH 18

By the time Fitz, Liv, and Harper made it to the show, the place was packed. This year's event was being held in the courtyard of a very famous music producer. The entire home was solid white, and even the outside courtyard was marble floored. The place seemed like something you would imagine instead of actually plan to perform on.

Harper was immediately rushed away to hair and makeup. Liv accompanied along with her publicist, whom had taken the flight out for the occasion. Moriah was more than elated when Harper invited her and the other cousins to the show, but nothing quite topped the cake like when she invited Moriah backstage with her.

You would have thought Moriah had just hit the lottery!

"Oh my gosh, Harper! I'm totally trying not to fangirl here, but have you seen everyone who's here!? I think I just saw Usher! I'm going to faint!" Moriah's pale cheeks were even whiter than usual. Harper snickered at her cousin.

"Hey, calm it down! Everything is ok. Yeah, I think that was him. I'll be sure to introduce-"

"EEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!"

Liv was making her way to Harper's dressing room when she heard the screech. She popped into the room just in time to witness Moriah almost knock Harper off of her feet. Smiling to herself, she stood by the door and once Harper made eye contact with her, Liv nodded.

"Moriah, how about one more surprise?" Liv smiled at the young girl as she whipped around with her face blank. Inwardly, Moriah wondered how much better this could actually get.

"Um, sure Miss-"

"Olivia, Liv, or Livvie." Liv corrected sternly but sweetly.

"Um, ok, Miss Liv." Harper chuckled, earning her a playful look from her mother. Just as they grew quiet, a knock came from the door. Liv opened it and two men entered the room with a nice size clothing rack in tow. Liv thanked and tipped the men, and once they walked out, hair and makeup waltzed right in around them.

"Well Harper, why don't you fill her in on the next surprise?" Fitz's voice came sailing through the room and Moriah's face turned 2 shades of deep red. Before Harper could disclose the last surprise, Moriah interrupted with a simple, but interesting question.

"Um, wait. I'm sorry….I just…It makes me nervous when people are too nice to me and so I was just wondering why."

Harper looked confused. "Why what?"

"Well, why me? Why do I get all these surprises when everyone else-"

"Mo…" Fitz interrupted. "Everyone is going to get a big surprise tonight…"

Harper's ears perked at this news but decided to remain stoic…

"…but the reason you are getting such special treatment is because-well, tell her Harp!" Liv couldn't help but laugh as she witnessed the exchange. Fitz could be such a kid at heart.

Harper grabbed Moriah's hand and looked deep into her eyes.

"Because you saw me when no one else did. You didn't see Harper Pope the singer. You saw me, just plain old Harper." She smiled at Moriah nodding with tears in her eyes. Liv and Fitz embraced yet again watching their daughter become such a beautiful young woman.

"So, ok, we don't have much time here. Mo, I'm wearing the outfit in the black bag hanging up. Everything else is fair game." Harper grew quiet and counted down in her head the number of seconds it would take before Moriah figured it out.

"Hunh? Ok, wait, so-WAIT...so I get to…you are…so I'm gonna…..EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!"

Twenty minutes, 3 dress fittings, and a good amount of make up and hair do's later, both ladies were ready. Harper was wearing a winter white dress that stopped mid-knee and a pair of black suede wedge ankle boots. Her hair was curled into large spirals that flowed with body around her face. Moriah's hair was straightened and light make up applied. She had decided on a lavender colored dress that was more of a halter style, showing off her freckle covered shoulders. Like Harp's, Moriah's dress stopped about mid knee and she had decided against heels siting her clumsiness. She instead wore a pair of designer black and purple flats.

Once Moriah joined the rest of the family for the show in their seats, she caught everyone's attention. Her parents cooed over her new look. Everyone seemed to be in awe at the beautiful young woman's appearance. Harper peeked around the stage to guage their reactions. She was pleasantly pleased at everyone except Anna and her crew, who looked like they wanted to claw Moriah's eyes out.

Mission accomplished, she thought as she walked away with a smirk.

It was finally time. Harper went through her usual regimen before a performance, much like her mother's process.

She talked to herself.

OK, focus Harp.

You know this song, you know John pretty well, and you know the plan.

Remember to breathe, make eye contact with people…

Not too many runs and high notes because you haven't practiced in such a long time and Dad might-

Dad. She froze in her tracks as it finally hit her that tonight her father was going to see her perform for the first time as HER FATHER. She was excited and nervous all at the same time and when John came to get her personally, she swallowed her pride and nerves, walked into his outstretched arms, and left for the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for attending tonight. We have a special treat for you all! First off, let me give a special shout out to my name sake here, Moriah Grant, who I hear is such a huge fan of mine. Such a beautiful young lady and I hope we can remain in contact with each other after tonight." Mariah Carey concluded as applause rang out. Moriah's face was of course super red as everyone smiled and a few people snapped pictures of her standing on stage next to none other than tonight's host and her LIFETIME HERO, Mariah Carey.

"Our last performance of the night was going to be a duet by John Legend and Meghan Trainor, but unfortunately, Meghan was unable to attend tonight."

The crowd awed at this and Mariah continued.

"Lucky for us, Moriah's cousin decided to fill those shoes for us at the last minute. Ladies and gentleman, HARPER POPE!"

The entire crowd went wild. For the most part, Harper's attendance was kept under wraps from everyone and it was easy for the Grant's to see how much everyone adored her.

The lights went low and as the music started to play, Harper appeared and began her entrance walking on stage and singing at the same time.

I found myself dreaming in silver and gold
Like a scene from a movie that every broken heart knows

(Harper had made her way to mid stage as she sang and soon after, Moriah appeared on her side with Fitz in tow, looking rather handsome in his tux and confused as he could be)

We were walking on moonlight, you pulled me close
Split second and you disappeared and then I was all alone
Woke up in tears with you by my side
Breath of relief and I realized,
No, we're not promised tomorrow

(Harper was now singing to her father and Fitz did everything in his power to NOT cry. He smiled at her as she took his hand while she sang sweetly and quickly dried what few tears streamed down his face)

[Chorus]
So, I'm gonna love you like I'm gonna lose you,
I'm gonna hold you like I'm saying goodbye
Forever will stay in, I won't take you for granted
'Cause we'll never know when we'll run out of time
So, I'm gonna love you like I'm gonna lose you,
I'm gonna love you like I'm gonna lose you

(Harper had held Fitz's hand during the chorus. He let go of her hand, reached in his back pocket, and began to sing the second verse. Harper's hands flew to her mouth to cover her reaction. Fitz pointed to the side stage where John Legend was now playing he acoustic guitar as he sang.)

In a blink of an eye,
Just a whisper of smoke

(Fitz made his way down the small set of stairs and over to Liv, who looked like she wanted to kill him for bringing attention to her. He quickly drug her up on stage, applause growing louder and louder as people realized what was happening.)

You could lose everything
The truth is you're never alone
So, I'll kiss you longer baby
Any chance that I get
I'll make the most of the minutes
So long with no regret
Let's take our time to say what we want
Here's what we've got
Before it's all gone
'Cause no, we're not promised tomorrow

(Liv stayed beside Fitz as he held her hand in his singing. Harper was on the other side of Liv and together she and Fitz brought the house down with their rendition of the song.)
[Chorus]
So, I'm gonna love you like I'm gonna lose you,
I'm gonna hold you like I'm saying goodbye
Forever will stay in, I won't take you for granted
'Cause we'll never know when we'll run out of time
So, I'm gonna love you like I'm gonna lose you,
I'm gonna love you like I'm gonna lose you

[Chorus]
I'm gonna love you like I'm gonna lose you,
I'm gonna hold you like I'm saying goodbye
Forever will stay in, I won't take you for granted
'Cause we'll never know when we'll run out of time
So, I'm gonna love you like I'm gonna lose you,
I'm gonna love you like I'm gonna lose you

By the end of the song, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. It was the perfect way to end such a spectacular night. The performance received a standing ovation from everyone, including John Legend himself. The entire Grant clan stood and cheered as well. Applause, whistles, and flashes were going off by the millisecond.

Once everyone was off stage, Fitz hugged his daughter.

"Sweetheart, that was wonderful! I'm so proud of you!" he gushed. Harper laughed and hugged her father back as tightly as she could. Fitz released her and turned to find Liv standing quietly to the side witnessing the entire ordeal.

"Livvie…"

"Fitz, just stop." Her voice told him she was NOT happy with him and he prepared himself for the tongue lashing he was about to receive.

"That was either the dumbest…or most ROMANTIC thing anyone has ever done for me. Thank you so much." Liv finished almost in a whisper as she walked toward him and kissed the dumbfound look right off of his face. Fitz was too shocked to kiss back at first but quickly caught on. He wrapped his arms around her slender body and deepened the kiss even more, earning cat calls and whistles from people that walked by. The finally ended the kiss, remaining forehead to forehead and staring into each other's eyes. The love this couple felt radiated off of them and anyone within a few feet could feel it.

Harper smiled at the couple. The kiss got pretty heated, so she decided to excuse herself and give the adults as much privacy as she could in a backstage corner. She wanted to get cleaned up a bit before her family arrived backstage, so she tip toed off toward her dressing room. Thoroughly proud of being able to perform with her dad AND pull a stunt like that off without a hitch, she was seemingly in her own world as she floated by people congratulating her and bragging on her, telling her "job well done".

She was still in a state of euphoria when she entered her room….so much so, that she barely even noticed the figure standing in the by the dresser mirror looking back at her.

"Harper."

Frozen, she dropped the water bottle she had open in her hand and the towel she was holding as well. When she finally found her voice to respond, it conveyed all of her emotions at that very moment…

"….NICK!?"

AN: guys, this chapter has been floating around in my mind ALL DAY at work and I HAD to put it down to night before I forgot. I hope you liked it!
The song is called "Like I'm gonna lose you" and it's by Meghan Trainor Ft. John Legend. I DO NOT OWN ANY RIGHTS TO THIS SONG OR THE CHARACTERS OF SCANDAL! If you've never heard it, please do! (I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH!) also, if you skipped the lyrics, you probably missed the print in parenthesis, which was what was happening during the song. I encourage you to read that part with the song playing the background so you can hear and hopefully imagine what I wanted to happen.

Sooooo…DUM DOM DUUUUUUUMMMMMM! It's Nick! What do you think is going to happen? Any ideas? Again, thank you so much for the reviews and kind words. I truly am so grateful for you all.

I hope to update the rest of my stories this week too, but it's going to be a rather busy one for me.

Next up, the Grant's reactions to the performance, the situation with Nick finally comes to a head, and hopefully we can have a bit more OLITZ action….

Happy Reading!

XOXO