A/N: Hey! So I know it's been months and that I'm trash because this update has been half-finished forever, but I've really been trying to figure out what to do with this storyline. I'm not sure how much more there is to cover, but I'm definitely not done with it. Anyway, the next update won't be so long coming I promise.

Olivia blinked awake at the feeling of Fitz moving beside her. She smirked a moment later when his body covered her. His nose found her neck, its favorite spot, and she could feel him smiling sleepily.

"Good morning," he murmured.

"No," she replied in her scratchy sick voice.

Fitz frowned, having hoped that a good night's sleep would make her better. She had been fighting a cold for a week, and three days into it had come down with laryngitis. "You're not feeling any better, Livvie?"

"Yeah. My throat doesn't hurt anymore. I just sound bad."

His lips pressed to her temple, checking for a fever without being obvious. He smiled, moving back to her neck when he found none. "I like it."

Olivia smirked. "You're a pervert."

Fitz smirked. "Say something dirty."

After a moment, she replied, "Vaginal cavity."

Fitz laughed. "You sure know how to kill the mood."

"It's a talent."

She stretched out on her stomach beneath him and Fitz did the same. He kissed the back of her head, moving his hands to find hers and intertwine their fingers. He pushed her hands to the headboard and wrapped her fingers around the mahogany rails. Olivia turned her head to look at the clock. It was nearly 9. "We've gotta get moving."

"But Jules is still asleep," Fitz replied, bracing himself on his elbows so he could kiss down her spine. Olivia smiled at the sensation of his lips ghosting her flesh but it quickly vanished, replaced by a deep frown as she coughed. She had hoped she'd bested her touch of bronchitis with copious amounts of cough syrup, but it apparently wouldn't be taken down so easily. Fitz stopped his movements and recovered her body with his. "You lied to me, Olivia Carolyn. You said you were better."

"I'm not as sick as I was. It wasn't technically a lie." Fitz had been at the firehouse for the better part of the week and had missed out on the worst of Olivia's sickness. She'd told him she was better when he called to check in because she knew he'd have rushed home to nurse her. She loved his doting but she was a miserable patient and wanted nothing more than to be alone in her bed reading. Plus, she had Julia to keep her company and the little girl seemed to get a kick out of spending all day in bed with her mommy. She slipped from beneath him and lay on her side, snuggling back against his warm body. "And don't government name me, Fitzgerald Thomas."

Fitz nipped her earlobe and pulled her closer. "You're such a brat."

Olivia rolled onto her back and draped her legs over his. "We've gotta get up and get ready."

Fitz caressed her cheek. "We can wait a few days if you're not up to it."

"We'll never get another flight on such short notice. I feel better, really."

"Are you sure?" He didn't look convinced.

"I'm sure. I promise." She rolled out of bed and stretched, lifting her light blue nightshirt enough to reveal lace navy blue panties.

Fitz smiled though she wasn't looking at him. "Cute panties. Are they new?"

Olivia lifted the front of her shirt and looked at her underwear. "I don't think so. Do you like them?"

"I have a strong feeling they're gonna be half-eaten pretty soon, so you could say I like them." He got out of bed and stretched too, walking around to stand in front of her. Olivia closed the small space between them and stood on her toes to kiss his Adam's apple because she couldn't reach his mouth without her heels. Fitz's hands slipped beneath her night shirt. Before he could move any further, Julia's waking whimpers drifted through the wall.

"Your turn," they said simultaneously. Julia's new diet of soft solid foods had done a number on her stomach and she almost always woke with a full diaper.

"I did it yesterday," Olivia argued.

Fitz smirked. "I did it last night."

"I would have done it but you doped me up on cough syrup."

"Not the point."

"I'll play you for it." She gave a challenging smile.

"One round. No rematches." Olivia nodded and raised her fist level with his. "One. Two. Three. Shoot."

Olivia played scissors. Fitz played rock. He grinned, smugly triumphant. She gave him a sour face. "Shit."

"There's probably a lot of it. Have fun with that." He poked her stomach then went into the bathroom, whistling an obnoxiously happy tune. He reached the bathroom doorway then turned back to smile at his wife. "Today I will be doing a Louis Armstrong medley. You're welcome to stay and listen."

"I'll pass. Make it snappy Mr. Grant." Olivia smirked at him as she left their bedroom, headed for Julia's room at the end of the hall. She entered the soft yellow room and smiled at her baby girl standing up in her white crib. The little girl's hair was down to her earlobes in wild Grant ringlets that Olivia had given up on taming. She simply pushed them back with a headband and let the child be.

"Good morning, mon petit," she cooed, lifting her out of the crib. She missed her clogged nose as the smell of Julia's diaper hit her nose. "How'd you turn rice and apple sauce into that?"

The baby babbled, taking hold of her mother's left ear. Olivia smiled. "Where's your ear?"

Julia let go and grabbed her own ear, still babbling happily, monosyllabic words littered in. Olivia lay her on her changing table and the baby began squirming. She was into the "on-the-go" phase of crawling and toddling and hated being pinned down. "It's just for a minute. Mama's gotta clean up your messy diaper before we have breakfast. Do you remember what we're doing today?"

Julia grinned her two-toothed smile. "Plane!"

"That's right. We're going all the way to California to see Daddy's sisters!"

Julia craned her little neck to see around Olivia at the mention of her Daddy. She loved Olivia, but she was a daddy's girl through and through. Olivia smiled at her baby as she put a new diaper on her. "Daddy's in the shower. Do you wanna go scare him?"

Julia babbled, nodding as she sat up. Olivia took her off the table and they went to the master bathroom. She smirked at Fitz singing over the sound of the water as she pulled back the shower curtain. Fitz smiled at the sight of his girls. "We've come to scare you."

"Is that right? Well scare away, ladies."

"Scare Daddy, mon petit," Olivia instructed. Julia raised her tiny hands like claws and gave a loud roar. Fitz put on a frightened face and screamed in terror, much to his daughter's delight. Olivia laughed at Julia's laughter as the baby's head fell back. She smoothed her hair back. "Tell Daddy bye bye so we can go make breakfast."

"Bye," the baby called, waving as she and Olivia left the bathroom.

They went to the kitchen and Olivia turned on the stove then placed a skillet over the flame. "Do you want pancakes for breakfast, precious?"

"Eggs!" the baby whooped. Olivia smiled, knowing Julia only liked to watch her crack the eggs. "Eggs!"

"Okay," Olivia replied. "And we'll have some grits too, won't we?"

"Yeah!" Julia replied. Olivia set her on the floor, smiling at Julia pulled herself up on a chair. "Al!"

Olivia didn't need to look to know that Aloysius had entered the kitchen. She smiled when he meowed loudly at Julia and the baby meowed back. A moment later, she heard Julia crawl away with her best friend, guessing the two were off to the living room to play. She made scrambled eggs and cheese grits, smiling at the sound of Julia giggling in the living room and Fitz singing in the bathroom.

She turned on the radio on the counter and fiddled with the knobs until she found a station playing American Christmas music. She went back to the stove and stirred the grits, singing along to the radio. "Have yourself a merry little Christmas/ Let your heart be light/ From now on our troubles will be out of sight."

Julia crawled into the kitchen, followed by Aloysius, and sat beside the table, waiting to be fed. Olivia smiled, still singing, as she picked Julia up and set her in her high chair. The baby picked up her rubber-handled plastic spoon. "'Poon!"

"That's right. What do we do with a spoon?" Olivia replied.

"Eat!" Julia whooped.

"That's right. You're the smartest girl in the world," Fitz said as he entered the kitchen. He had been telling Olivia for the past week that Julia was a genius as she retained more words than any baby he knew. "What's for breakfast, girls?"

"Eggs!" Julia answered proudly, kicking her feet. She had finally grown to love her little white Keds after Fitz taught her to fasten the straps.

"What else?"

"Gits!" Julia banged her spoon on her plate in anticipation for her breakfast.

Fitz sat down and Aloysius climbed his leg, settling into his lap. "Morning Al."

Olivia hummed as she set a plate in front of him then set down one for herself. She spooned grits and eggs onto Julia's plate but took it from her. "Just a minute. It's hot."

"Hot." Julia pointed at the plate where it sat on the table out of her reach. She picked up her sippy cup and presented it to her mother. "Cup!"

"What goes in a cup?" Fitz asked, smiling at his baby. He reached out and ran his fingers through her curls.

Julia smiled, holding the cup out to him. "Juice!"

"That's right. You're so smart, mon petit," Olivia replied, planting a kiss on the baby's head as she poured orange juice into the cup. Fitz put the top on the cup then handed it back. "And how do we ask for things?"

"Peas!" the little girl replied proudly.

XXXXX

San Francisco, California

Fitz smiled at Julis as she sat on his hip on the front porch of the family house. "Ring the doorbell, Julie Bean."

Julia eagerly pressed the doorbell a dozen times before Liz opened the door, dressed in a red cardigan over a green sundress. She grinned. "Well look at you! You're a little Fitz clone."

"Hi!" Julia whooped, waving.

"Oh I'm gonna fall in love with you, little lady." Liz smiled as she reached for the baby. She called over her shoulder, "Tess, Celie, they're here!"

She stepped back and let Olivia and Fitz inside then shut the front door and looked at them with a smirk. "They've put together the tackiest tree I've ever seen. It's got singing lights and this awful gold garland. And some these big round balls on it. And it's right in the front window for the whole neighborhood to gawk at."

Olivia laughed. "We let Julia pick our tree. It's about her height and covered in the gaudiest ornaments in the world. Bad taste must be a Grant thing."

"You know we used to kick kids' asses for talking about us like that," Tess said as she entered the room. She had grown her hair out since the last time they'd seen her, and Celie had cut hers to her shoulders.

"Hey you can't say a-s-s in front of Jules. She's a parrot these days," Fitz admonished.

"Good. Auntie Tess is gonna turn you into a sailor," Tess cooed as she took Julia who promptly reached for her long hair.

"Watch her. She'll snatch you bald," Olivia cautioned. She had taken to simply wearing her hair up to keep it out of the baby's reach.

Tess smiled, tickling the baby's belly, as she turned to Celie. "Aunt Cece used to have enough hair for you to jump rope with, but she thinks she's a supermodel now."

Celie smiled proudly. "Did I tell you in the last letter that I'm a pharmacy girl? I'm in the newspaper ad and everything! They've even got my picture above the lunch counter like the Pepsi-Cola girls!"

Fitz smiled as he hugged her. "Well how do you like that? My baby sister's famous."

"Teddy couldn't believe it either," Celie replied.

"Where is that stray?" Fitz asked.

"He had to go home to Wyoming to see about some money his great uncle left him. I was gonna go but I didn't want to miss meeting Julia." Celie took Julia and kissed her cheeks. "You are the prettiest thing on the planet."

"She's smart too," Olivia said. "Find Celie's ear, mon petit."

Julia reached beneath Celie's hair and found her ear, giving it a gentle tug. Tess whooped, "Hot damn!"

"Damn!" Julia parroted.

"Tess!" Fitz scowled at his sister.

Tess laughed. "She's just a baby. She'll forget it just as quick as she learned."

"Damn, damn, damn," Julia said absently, playing with Celie's shoulder-length hair.

Fitz continued to scowl. "See what you did."

Olivia laughed, shaking her head. "At least she doesn't know what it means."

XXXXX

Two Days Later

Christmas Day

Fitz awoke alone, stretching out in the empty bed. He frowned as he sat up, wondering where Olivia was. He could still see Julia's sleeping form in the borrowed crib at the foot of the bed. He got out of bed and left the room in search of his wife. He stopped at the cracked bathroom door and whispered, "Liv, are you in here?"

"Yeah. You can come in," she replied.

Fitz walked into the room and found his wife sitting on the toilet and frowning at the floor. "What's the matter?"

"I'm not pregnant," she half-whispered.

"How do you know?" She pointed at her blood-stained panties around her ankles. Fitz knelt and took her face in his hands. "It's okay, Livvie."

"It's not. It's my fault." She wiped her glassy eyes.

"It's nobody's fault. You were just late." He rubbed the apples of her cheeks with his thumbs.

She shook her head free from his grasp. "No. It is. I wasn't…happy. I thought it was too soon. And now it's gone. God's punishing me for not wanting the baby."

Fitz sighed as he sat on the rim of the tub beside her. He'd had his suspicions that Olivia wasn't thrilled about the idea of a second baby. She hadn't babbled on and on about it like she did with Julia, and he had yet to catch her staring at her stomach, but he didn't believe that God had done anything to her. "Liv, do you really think God's punishing you?"

She sighed. "I don't know. I just know that I wasn't happy, and now I'm not pregnant."

"You're a nurse. What's the most logical, medical explanation?"

"That I wasn't pregnant to start with," she answered after a moment. "I just felt like… I was so sure. And I was so moody. I didn't say anything but I felt so bad, like I was ruining our lives."

"Why would a baby ruin our lives?" He frowned at her. "Was it mine?"

Olivia looked up at him. "What?"

"Was it mine? Or was it his? Is that why you didn't want it?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

Olivia slowly stood and pulled up her underwear, gathering her words. She raised her eyes to meet his and Fitz knew he had made a terrible mistake. "I can't believe you would even ask me that. You've been gone for weeks at a time and I never even thought that you might cheat. But you think I would do it right under your nose? With our baby in the house?"

"Liv, I didn't mean—"

"You meant it because you said it." She pushed past him out of the bathroom and he followed her to his room, watching as she lifted Julia out of the crib then moved for the door.

"Livvie please let me explain."

"No." She pushed past him again and he heard Tess's door open and shut.

Fitz sat on the bed and placed his head in his hands. He didn't really believe Olivia would cheat on him, but why else wouldn't she want their baby? And Jackson was so much more than him, could give her so much more than him. He heard a door open and close and a moment later, Tess entered his room. He looked at her dolefully as she walked to him and sat beside him.

"Tess I didn't—" The palm of her hand clapped the back of his head so hard that his ears rung.

"I've been telling you since you were 18 that you can't just go shooting your mouth off like a damn fool, and you're 30 and still don't know any better. What I can't figure out is why you'd think something so damn stupid? I always said you weren't a bright one, and dammit if you're not gonna prove me right."

Fitz glowered at his bare feet, rubbing the stinging back of his head. "He's got more money than me. And he slithered in when I was gone. She didn't know if I was gonna come back. Hell, she still doesn't know it most nights. And why would she settle for $100 a week to spend half of it alone when she could be with a doctor who could give her things I couldn't dream of?"

"I understand." Tess rubbed his back soothingly and Fitz relaxed, thinking that if he could just explain himself to Olivia, she'd understand too. But his sister's calloused palm clapped his head again and his thoughts shifted. "You're about the stupidest, most self-centered asshole walking on two useless feet! If she wanted more, wouldn't she have gotten it? Wasn't she home in the States for two months without you? Didn't she leave a man with a steady job for your rumpled ass? Didn't she move across the world for you? And marry you when you had nothing? So, tell me why, after being with you and your nothing for so long, would she suddenly stray?"

Fitz rubbed his throbbing head again. "She wouldn't."

"Exactly, dumbass." Tess stood and went to the door. "Now I'm gonna go get the baby and convince Liv to come in here and hear you out. Do you think you could manage to get your foot out of your mouth and explain yourself?"

He listened as she walked down the hall and heard her talking to Olivia. He smiled at the sound of Julia's soft babbling and Liz's voice talking back to her. A few minutes later, he heard two sets of footsteps on the stairs. When he looked up at the doorway, Olivia stood before him, her eyes red-rimmed and her bottom lip pulled between her teeth.

"Livvie, I'm so sorry. I don't believe you'd cheat on me. I just… He's so much better than me. I thought maybe you'd realized that. And you weren't happy about our baby? How could you not be happy about something we made? Especially looking at Jules. How could you not be happy about another baby when she's so perfect?"

Olivia silently walked to the bed and stood before him. Fitz looked up at her plaintively and Olivia gave him a resounding slap that made his ears ring. Fitz wondered why everyone seemed to think he needed a slap. "You are the stupidest man I've ever met. I love you. I'm in love with you. You're the love of my life. How could you even think that someone else could turn my head? And that even if they did, I would cheat on you? I wasn't happy about the baby because I didn't want us to struggle. You get so upset when you can't afford things that I didn't want you to think you were failing at being the man of the house."

Fitz lowered his head and reached out to hold her. Olivia wound her fingers in his hair and soothingly rubbed his scalp. "I'm so sorry, Livvie."

"I forgive you." He believed her until her hold tightened on his hair and she snatched his head back hard enough to make his eyes water. "But if you ever make me feel like that again, I'll kill you. Are we clear?"

He nodded as best he could and she released him, her fingers soothing him again. There was a knock at the door and Fitz looked up. "Come in."

Celie slipped inside, Julia on her hip. The baby's mouth was sticky with jam that she was licking off her hand. "Everything okay?"

Fitz looked at his wife for confirmation and she nodded, giving his nose an affectionate tweak as she sat beside him on the bed. Celie sighed. "I did something bad and it was a complete accident and I'm so sorry."

Olivia looked at Julia as Celie put her down and the baby toddled the short walk to them. She picked her up and looked her over. "Well she's not hurt. How bad could it be?"

"Shit!" Julia whooped, grinning at her parents.

"Celie!" Fitz scowled at his sister.

"I'm sorry. I mashed my finger in the drawer and it slipped out and she won't stop saying it. I broke your baby!" She peered at them with wide eyes and Olivia thought she might cry.

"It's okay, Celie. She'll forget it before you know it," Olivia assured. "She's too little to remember words we don't repeat all the time."

Julia offered her jam-smeared hand to her father and he smiled at her. "What were you eating, Julie Bean?"

"Shit!" she replied immediately.

"Oh my god!" Celie wailed, covering her face.

Fitz laughed in spite of himself. "Go back to bed, Celie. She'll have forgotten it by breakfast."

Celie nodded and left the room. Fitz got up and retrieved a baby wipe from Julia's bag then came back and cleaned the baby's face and hands. "Now we've gotta get rid of that potty mouth, princess."

"Shit!" Fitz frowned but Olivia laughed, covering her mouth.

"I'm ready to go home. My sisters are a terrible influence," he said as he got into bed. Olivia joined him, Julia nestled between them.

A/N: So our babies had a fight, but they managed to make up. There's still a little more angst to come though. Don't forget to review! XOXOXO