A/N: So this chapter was originally going to be one that was about letters from Abby and Teddy. But I couldn't get that one to come out. I will let y'all know what happens to them in an upcoming chapter, but I couldn't wait for my babies to reunite anymore.

Olivia climbed off the bus at the corner of her street with a sigh. She had worked a double shift and assisted in three births, all with complications. Tired was an understatement for what she was. She'd always thought pediatric nursing was easy. They were just babies after all. She had never been more wrong, or more terrified of children. She walked down the street to her house, thinking that a good glass of wine and a long hot bath would do her a world of good.

She stopped in her tracks when she reached the front steps at the end of her house's walkway. Fitz stood on her front porch, his bags at his feet, a cigarette dangling from her lips. He smiled at her and slicked his hair back from his face. "Hi."

She couldn't reply. She couldn't move. She couldn't even speak. She had always imaged what it would be like when he returned, how she'd prepare for it, what she'd wear, how she would do her hair. But now all that was moot. Because he was back and standing on her front porch like he had been visiting her for months. She didn't know when it happened, but suddenly she was crying, her vision blurred as she raced up the steps and into his arms. Fitz lifted her off her feet, squeezing her tightly as she clung to him.

"You're here. You're here," she blubbered. "I can't believe you're here. I've been waiting forever and here you are."

"I'm here, baby," he replied. She leaned back to look at him then realize how she must have looked and quickly retrieved his handkerchief from her purse to wipe her face. He grinned at her. "Please don't get all gussied up on my account."

Olivia laughed, laughed until the tears started again and she had to lay her head on his shoulder. "I can't believe you're here. How did you get here?"

"I took a plane. Two planes actually. And a bus. Then another bus. Then I walked some." He kissed her forehead. "Baby I'd have walked all the way here from France to get to you if I had to."

Olivia crashed her lips into his, pulling on his bottom lip. She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed him until he was there in her arms. She still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that he was there, in the flesh, staring at her, waiting on her porch like the best kind of present. Fitz hadn't expected her kisses to be so hungry. He groaned at the way her tongue begged for his. When she finally pulled away to catch her breath, he set her on her feet and smiled at her. Olivia smiled back at him, reaching up to wipe her lipstick off his mouth.

"We should go inside," she said, meaning that she wanted to get him alone and naked as quickly as she could.

Fitz picked up his bags then stepped out of her way so she could unlock the door. The moment they were inside, she pushed him back against the door and kissed him hard. Fitz wasn't sure what to make of her voracious appetite for him. Not that he was complaining. Already his hands were working on the buttons on her white uniform. The dress fell to the floor and Fitz relished being able to rub her warm skin. He had waited so long for the feeling of her body again. Olivia's hands fell to his pants and she managed to undo them with surprising quickness. Fitz picked her up and spun them around so she was pressed against the door. He held onto her with one hand and used the other to push her panties aside.

"Do you remember when I touched you here?" he murmured before taking her earlobe between his teeth.

"Yes." It came out as a breath because he was teasing her bundle of nerves, making circles around it but never touching the firm bud. Every nerve-ending prayed that he was make contact, just for a few blessed seconds. She let out a throaty purr when he finally began massaging it with his thumb as his fingers slipped into her slick channel. He groaned at how ready she was.

"God you're wet baby," he whispered hoarsely. She ran her fingernails over the veins on his engorged member and he nearly exploded. He slipped his fingers out of her. It was time. He couldn't wait to be inside her any longer. He placed on hand on the door next to her head, using it as leverage so he could plunge inside her to the hilt. Olivia sucked in a large breath. It had been so long since she'd been so full. She bit his shoulder as they both reveled in the reunion that had been months in the making. Her fingers twined in his curls, pulling his face close enough for her to kiss him. She wondered how she had gone so long without the tasting the cigarettes and sweet mint gum flavor of his tongue.

Fitz set a slow, deliberate pace. Olivia knew her back would be bruised from rubbing the mahogany front door but she didn't care. She couldn't care when he was so deep and his lips were clamped on her pulse point. Fitz knew his legs wouldn't hold out much longer. He sank to the floor with her body wrapped around his and lay her back on the carpeted floor. His calloused fingertips gripped the lush globes of her breasts, tweaking the sensitized tips and provoking mewling cries from her lips. He pulled her ankles onto his shoulders and leaned forward until her knees touched her shoulders.

"Mmm." Olivia caught her bottom lip between her teeth. She had never been in such a position, never felt so full and stretched. Fitz couldn't stop himself from pounding her senseless, not when she was begging him to go faster and deeper. Soon she couldn't even beg, only nodding her head when he asked if she was getting what she wanted.

He smirked. She would have to do better than that. "I asked you a question. I expect an answer, Livvie."

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him weakly. What did he want her to say? What did he expect her to be able to say when she could feel his strokes in her stomach and her brain had lost the ability to form a complete thought? Fitz stared at her darkly. Her channel quivered at the look on his face. "I asked if you like it. Answer me."

She couldn't make herself talk, not with the pressure building in her core. It wouldn't be long before a gale-force orgasm rocked her body, especially with him rubbing her bundle of nerves between his thumb and forefinger. He leaned over so they were face to face. She reached up and cupped his face, her ragged breaths fanning his face. He kissed her neck, leaving a hot trail up to her earlobe. She gasped when his teeth locked onto it and cursed the day he discovered what it did to her. She was putty in his hands, his cursed hands that were driving her to the brink of insanity. "Tell me you like it. Don't you like it, sweet baby? Do you want me to stop?"

"Please don't stop!" She was surprised by how easily she managed to find her tongue when faced with the possibility of him stopping. "I like it! Oh God, I like it!"

"I know you do." He slowed to a glacial pace, allowing her to feel every sensation. "I know you like it. Cum for me. Show me how much you like it."

Between his voice buzzing in her ear, his tongue on her earlobe, and his fingers toying with her bundle of nerves, her orgasm was nothing short of an explosion, making her tremble so violently that for a moment Fitz was momentarily concerned. She babbled his name like she needed saving before freezing in a silent scream as electricity shot from the tips of her toes up her spine to the crown of her head. He whispered love in her ear, his hand clasped delicately on her neck, as he rocketed toward oblivion. Olivia clung to him breathlessly. How could she have gone so long without his hands and his lips and the weight of his body on hers every night? Her nails made little crescents on his muscular backside that matched the constellation of bruises his left hand made her on her hip. He was wound so tight that all he wanted to do was snap.

"Oh God Fitz! It's happening again!" Her channel spasmed around him. It was so good, so perfect, all he needed to tumble over the cliff. Her nails sank deeper into him and the mixture of pain and pleasure intensified his explosion. He groaned as his teeth nipped her shoulder. She ran her fingers through his sweaty curls as he lay atop her, both of them catching their breath. Fitz finally rolled them over, worried that he was crushing her little body beneath his.

"You changed your hair." He ran his fingers through her the springy curls, smiling goofily. He couldn't believe she was back in his arms.

"This is what it looks like when I don't straighten it," she explained, resting her chin on his chest. She smiled as she reached up trace the grin on his lips with her index finger. He nipped it and she laughed as she snatched her hand away.

"It's beautiful. You're beautiful." He looked down at her gloriously naked body. "You've got one hell of a carpet burn though."

Olivia laughed. She'd figured she would. "And who do I have to thank for that?"

"The carpet." He laughed beautifully and she leaned up to kiss him. She pecked his lips repeatedly.

"I can't believe you're here," she whispered, smiling against his mouth.

"Butt naked on your parents' living room floor no less." They both laughed as she rolled off him.

"We should probably go up to my room. Especially since you can see straight through that front window." She stood and looked around for her underwear. She found her bra on the arm of her father's chair and her panties hanging on the doorknob. Fitz's boxers lay at her feet. She tossed them to him, watching as he stepped into them and pulled them up. She had never seen a man so beautifully made. He gathered his clothes and looked at her with a smile as she picked up her dress and shopping bags.

"You'll have to excuse my room. I wasn't expecting company," she explained as she opened the door and stepped inside. Fitz looked around. The walls were painted a warm pink and books littered every available surface. Her cello rested on its stand in the corner next to a wooden chair. Her bed sheets were floral, her comforter lavender. A white nightgown lay on one pillow. He smiled as he sat on her bed and picked it up.

"You know I sleep in this exact same nightgown." She laughed as she put her bags on her desk. "What did you buy?"

"Just a few dresses I didn't need." She smiled shamefully.

"Show me. I wanna see." She looked at him in surprise. He smiled and ran a large hand over his wild curls.

"Alright," she replied unsurely. Edison never even noticed when she got new clothes, unless something was too low cut or short for his taste. He was worse than her mother at critiquing her outfits. She pulled out a navy sailor-style dress and held it up.

"Cute. Did you get the little hat to go with it?" he asked with a teasing grin.

Olivia smirked as she pulled the hat out of the bag. "Actually yes. My other boyfriend's a sailor. Do you think he'll like it?"

"He'll be buried in it if he comes anywhere near you while I'm around."

"So jealous," she teased with a smile as she set the dress aside. She pulled out a wine red halter dress. Fitz wondered where she would wear something so revealing as he looked at its nonexistent back and the low v neckline. "I normally wouldn't buy anything so sexy but it was such a pretty color that I couldn't resist. I guess I'll wear it dancing. What do you think?"

"I think men are going to be falling all over themselves to dance with you in that dress." He smiled at her. "Not that I'm gonna let anyone else dance with you."

"Is that right?" She walked over to stand between his legs, her hands on her hips.

"That's right." He kissed her stomach, his tongue darting in her bellybutton and making her gasp. He pulled her down on the bed and rolled on top of her.

"If you're thinking of defiling my childhood bed, you can think again mister." She smiled at him darkly.

Fitz just grinned, already slipping off her bra and panties. He kissed her stomach again, swirling his tongue around her navel and making her hips buck involuntarily. Breathing became a whole body task as he trailed kissed down to where she craved him most. He was the only man to ever kiss her there, and before him she'd thought it perverse and a little unsanitary, but his mouth blurred all her thoughts into splashes of watercolors.

"Ohhhh," she groaned when he delivered a torturously slow lick to her center. He groaned against her heat. He had been craving her taste for moths. Her fingers knotted in his hair and he grabbed her thighs to keep them apart lest she suffocate him. Olivia wondered where he learned to do such things to a woman, or if he was some kind of sex god. Whatever the case, he was playing her body like an instrument. He slipped his tongue inside her and the world threatened to go black. Her back arched like she was possessed and suddenly she was babbling his name like she needed saving. He hummed appreciatively when she lifted her hips to thrust against his mouth.

"OhgodyespleaseFitzdon'tstoppleasepleaseplease!" She didn't even recognize her voice as she begged for him to use his magical tongue to push her over the edge. She was so deliciously close. He clamped his lips on her bundle of nerves, tugging on it gently, and everything went black. Fitz's grip on her thighs tightened to keep them from closing around his head as she splintered into a million quivering pieces. Fitz lapped up her sweet nectar, relishing the taste. He smiled up at her from between her thighs. He planted kisses on the inside of her right thigh up to her stomach then between her breasts. He grinned as he covered her body with his before planting a kiss on her lips.

"Would it be too cliché to say I love you right now?" he asked.

Olivia smiled, reaching up to push a sweaty errant curl back from his face. "A little. But say it anyway."

"I love you." She had never seen him smile so big. "I've wanted to say that to you since the first time I made you smile."

"Say it again." She kissed his stubbly chin.

"I love you." She kissed the corner of his mouth.

"Again."

"I love you." She kissed the other corner. "I love you." She kissed his nose. "I love you."

Each capitulation earned him a kiss that was sweeter than the last. He smiled as he nuzzled her neck. "I want you to say it."

She smiled as she lifted his face to nuzzle his nose with her own. "What do I get if I do?"

"You get to hear me say it back."

"I suppose that's enough," she teased. "I love you."

"Say it again." He lifted her off the bed then turned the covers back.

"You said you would say it back." He kissed her pouting mouth.

"I didn't say when. Say it again."

"I love you." He kissed the hollow of her throat, making her eyes close. She leaned back against the pillows and pulled his face into the crook of her neck.

"I love you too," he murmured in her ear.

XXXXX

Olivia's eyes fluttered open and she sat up a little as she yawned. She wasn't sure when she'd fallen asleep, just that Fitz smelled like home and held her in a way she hadn't known she was missing. She smiled as she looked up at his sleeping face. She felt dizzy with love and boneless with satisfaction. She leaned up and kissed his chin, making his eyes open.

"What time is it?" he asked.

She looked at the clock on the wall near the door. "Almost 7:30."

He sat up, pulling her up with him. "I can't believe it's so late. I should probably get going. I'm not really dressed to meet your folks."

"You're not really dressed to leave," she teased with a smile.

"And who do I have to thank for that?"

"You. You undressed yourself." She smiled at making him laugh.

She watched as he got out of bed and went to her desk chair to put on his pants. She pulled a pad and pen out of her nightstand drawer and scribbled down the name and address of a hotel.

"I'm gonna call you a cab and you tell him to take you to this hotel. I'll come tomorrow." She wrapped her arms around him, slipping the paper in his front pocket.

"Hey! Get out of there," he teased when she didn't remove her hand from his pocket.

"Oh I'm sorry. I though I lose something in there." She kissed his neck as she slipped her hand out of his pocket. She watched as he dressed then wrapped her body around him before he descended the stairs.

He smiled at her. "So we have 6 whole days of just you and me."

"Six loooong days. What do you think we should do with all that time?" She ran her fingernails up and down his neck and he gripped her backside as he carried her down the stairs.

She was surprised by her back connecting with the front door. Fitz grinned darkly. "I can think of a few things. Are you ticklish?"

"Terribly. Why?" She smirked at him.

He kissed her collar bone. "No reason. I just might have to tie you down so you can't get away."

"Who said I would run?" She fixed him with a confident stare. "Who's to say you won't be the one trying to get away?"

He suddenly put her down, pressing his core into hers. "I definitely need to go before your parents come home and catch us naked on this floor."

"You should." After an eternity of kisses, she finally managed to call him a taxi that arrived much too soon for their preference.

"Okay. One more kiss then I'll leave." One more kiss turned into three which turned into groping. The cabbie laid on his horn and they finally pulled away.

"See you tomorrow," she promised.

Fitz smiled. "I can't wait."

XXXXX

Olivia held up the red dress she'd bought on a whim, trying to decide if she should pack it. It was perfect for dancing, but she didn't want to send the wrong message. But what message was that? That she was beautiful and sexy and on the arm of a man who loved her until she bloomed? She smiled as she folded the dress into the suitcase. She had packed her favorite clothes and shoes, and the lingerie she'd bought the day before. She had never been one for lace and silk undergarments, but she wanted to be her sexiest for Fitz. She wanted to look as sexy as he made her feel. If there was any justice, all the time she spent picking each piece would be several eternities compared to the time she spent wearing it. She smiled as she picked up the white nightgown he'd seen before and placed it in her suitcase.

She looked up in surprise at the sound of the doorbell. Her parents were gone to work and she hadn't been expecting any company. She descended the stairs wondering who could be calling on her. Especially as she'd already told everyone important that she was going to Atlanta for the week to visit with a friend from the war.

Olivia was surprised to find Edison on the other side of the door, smiling at her. It was a weekday. Surely he had classes to teach.

"Hi Eddy." She opened the door and stepped back to let him inside out of the sweltering July heat.

"Hi Liv." He smiled at her and she offered her best smile back. It wasn't that she disliked him. It was just that she found his general presence oppressing, like at any moment he was going to rain on her parade.

He shut the door. Olivia tried to refrain from frowning. He had the damnedest habit of showing up when she least expected it. She wondered what he could want after such a long time of not talking.

"How are you?" she asked because she could think of nothing else to say to him.

He smiled. "I'm okay. I've been working a lot lately."

"Me too." She looked at him expectantly. When he didn't say anything, she began to think of reasons why he would be there. "Oh! You must be here to get the ring."

"I…" He didn't finish because she was already headed up the stairs. He followed her and stopped in her doorway, looking curiously at her bags. "I didn't come for the ring. Where are you going?"

"To see a friend in Atlanta for a few days." She resumed packing, feeling uneasy. "You didn't come for the ring? Is there something else you needed? Did you leave something important here?"

"Just you." He smiled at her. "Liv, I think maybe we should try again. I was too rash when I left before. You and me have something special and we should work to keep it."

Olivia blinked at him. She truly hadn't been expecting this. Had she been too hasty in throwing them away? She had all but physically kicked him out and he was back again pleading for her. That had to mean something, didn't it? "What?"

"Well I talked to my mother and I told her that we're having whatever kind of wedding you want because it's your day." That was a step in the right direction. "And you can keep nursing and keep your hair that way if you want. I'm done pushing you, Liv."

She didn't know what to say to him. He had come back with the right ideas and the right attitude, but he was too late. She had already moved on. But she couldn't tell him that. Not when he was standing there looking at her with such sad eyes. "Eddy...I don't know what to say."

"Say you'll take me back," he implored. "No! Say you'll come to the courthouse with me right now and get married. No muss, no fuss."

"What?" He had gone crazy. He had fallen and hit his head. That was the only thing that could have possessed to come to her with such a ridiculous idea. "Edison we can't do that."

"Why not? The biggest problem was my mother butting in, right? She can't butt in if we go to the courthouse and get it done. Think about it. We can go right now and fill out the papers and have the ceremony. Tonight we'll go out for a nice dinner. Tomorrow morning when we wake up, it's done and there's nothing anybody can do about it."

Olivia shook her head. "Our biggest problem was that you don't listen to me. You hear the parts you want and pretend the rest is just white noise, Eddy. You don't want me. You want a wife. And there's some girls who could settle for that but I can't."

"So that's it? It's really over between us?"

Olivia turned to look at him. "What do you want me to say Edison?"

"That you want to get married!" He'd never shouted at her before but he had been trying for months since she'd gotten home to make her happy and she threw up roadblocks every chance she got. He couldn't wrap his head around what her problem was.

"Well I don't. Not to you anyway." Her tone was indifferently even. She'd dealt with enough children to know you never fed the fire when they decided to throw tantrums. She walked to her nightstand and retrieved the ring from the top drawer. She frowned as she walked over to him to give it back.

He took it reluctantly. "I guess this is goodbye. That's a shame. We could've really been something."

"Goodbye Edison. Take care of yourself." She'd always imagined the end of an engagement would bring tears but she didn't feel like crying. She felt free.

"Can I at least give you a ride to the bus station?" he asked, looking at her luggage. He wondered who she was going to see.

"No. I'll get there on my own just fine. Thank you for offering though." She smiled at him. She did still like him as a person. But she knew Edison, and that didn't mean anything to him. He was an all or nothing person. You either gave him what he wanted, or he wanted nothing to do with you.

"Are you going to see your friend Abby?" he asked curiously.

"Yes. She's coming down from New York for the week before she goes back to Italy. She signed up for a second tour of duty. I'm thinking I might want to go back too." She gave no reaction to his frown.

"Well you've been itching to get back so maybe you should." Her stomach roiled with animosity at the contempt that laced his voice. Maybe she didn't really like him as a person. Maybe she just desperately wanted to like him as consolation for not being in love with him.

She smiled icily at him. "Goodbye Eddy. I've got to get to the bus station."

XXXXX

Edison frowned as he watched Olivia step off the bus at the stop in front of the Lydia Hotel. He hadn't really thought of what he might do when he followed her to the bus station, or what he would do when he followed the bus all the way to Atlanta. He'd just been going. Some things weren't adding up. She wouldn't have just let him go if there wasn't someone else. Girls never gave up sure things unless they had something even surer lined up.

Olivia patted her face with Fitz's handkerchief as she stepped off the bus. There was no call for such heat. She stood with the other passengers as the porter unloaded luggage. She picked up her bags and turned around. She looked down the street at the hotel and smiled as she made out Fitz's form leaning against the front of the hotel, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. It was a struggle not to run into his arms. But she remembered where she was and who they were and contained herself. They were in the mostly colored section of Atlanta, but there was trouble to be had anywhere.

Edison turned to watch her out the back window as she walked toward the hotel. He had no idea what Abby looked like, but he guessed none of the women standing near the hotel's entrance was her, especially once Olivia walked past them all to come to a stop in front of a tall white man smoking a cigarette. He almost assumed the man might be Abby's husband until Olivia reached up and took the cigarette from his lips to put it between her own. The man smiled at her and said something that made her laugh as she exhaled smoke.

"Well I'll be damned," he muttered.

By the hotel entrance, butterflies scraped Olivia's ribcage as she stared at Fitz. She'd never guessed such exhilaration could come from a person's mere presence. She couldn't believe she was smiling at her lover's laughing eyes when just months before she'd been mooning over letters that promised a visit she wasn't guaranteed to get. But there he was, handsome as ever as he leaned against the wall. The man made a plain gray t-shirt and muddy green cargo pants look like the finest suit.

"Excuse me. I don't believe we've met. But I'm certainly not one to turn away beautiful women," he flirted with a smile.

"Well I hope you're inclined to show me a good time." She gave him back his cigarette.

Fitz winked at her as he took the cigarette. "I might have a few things in mind. The first of which involving a hot bath drawn for a special lady by some lovely gentleman who figured that bus ride would have you stiff."

"I'll have to thank him handsomely for being so thoughtful." She smiled at him as he took her bags, cocking his head toward the hotel's heavy gilded double doors.

"After you ma'am."

She smiled at him over her shoulder as she headed for the doors. "You're very polite for a bellhop. I'll have to tip you extra."

Edison watched as they headed into the hotel. Shocked was an understatement. A white man. Of all the people she could have left him for, she chose some white man. How could she be so stupid? There was nothing good a white man could want with her, nothing good for her anyway. But he had tossed her a few sweet words, and maybe a few trinkets, and there she was, gallivanting in a hotel like a common street walker. He shook his head as he started his truck to head home. She'd be back once her white man got his fill of adventure and he'd be waiting to finally make a proper woman out of her.

A/N: There's much smut and fluff to come, and a little more drama with Edison but that won't be for quite a few chapters. The next few chapters are going to consist of our babies enjoying their time together. The drama is going to be minimal but not nonexistent. Don't forget to review! Don't be shy!