They finally meet! Enjoy.

Fitz had warned Olivia that Ellie was in the stage where she asked a ton of questions. He had not been exaggerating. Olivia, however, was not complaining in the least because as long as she happily talking to her that meant that the girl liked her. Presently, they were all in the kitchen watching Fitz finish up their dinner.

"I wanna help." Ellie hopped off the stool she had been sitting on beside Olivia.

Fitz picked her up and sat her on the island and placed a bowl beside her. "Here." He said handing her a spoon. "You have to be careful though. Okay?" She nodded excitedly and began stirring the mixture. "Good Job." He complemented her.

"Olivia, do you like to cook?" Ellie looked up from the bowl.

"I do, but I don't cook very often." Olivia answered.

"Why?"

"Well." Olivia glanced at Fitz. "I work a lot."

"Where do you work?" Ellie asked curiously.

"I have my own office."

"Daddy has his own office."

"We don't have the same kind of office though, ladybug." Fitz explained.

"What kind of office do you have?"

"A Crisis Management firm." She began to clarify when she noticed Ellie's confused expression. "Whenever someone does something bad or has a problem I fix it and make it go away."

"So if daddy does something bad he won't get in trouble?"

"It's kind of like that."

"Hey!" Fitz interjected. "How come I have to do something bad? I don't do bad stuff."

"Yes, you do." Ellie squinted her eyes at him.

"Oh yeah." Before she could react, Fitz scooped her up and began tickling her.

"Help me." She shrieked between laughs. "Olivia, stop him."

"Nope. Liv can't help you." He continued to tickle her until she couldn't breathe from laughing so hard. "Are you ready to apologize?" She nodded. "I'm listening."

"I'm sorry." He put her back on the ground and she ran back to the stool she had been on before. He continued to prepare their meal and listened as Olivia and El talked about anything the little girl could think of.

When everything was finished they all sat around the table enjoying their meal. "Are you daddy's girlfriend?" Ellie looked at Olivia waiting for an answer. They had eating dinner in a comfortable silence which was broken by the question.

"Ladybug she's not my girlfriend." Fitz looked at his daughter and glanced at Olivia. "Yet." He added softly but Olivia heard it. She looked at Fitz who returned her gaze.

"Why are you staring at each other?"

Olivia looked down quickly and Fitz cleared his throat. "We're not." He said.

"Yes, you were."

"El, finish eating before your food gets cold." He was hoping to distract her from the conversation he knew was coming. "If you finish eating and get your PJs on we can hang out before bed."

"Can we watch a movie?" She asked excitedly.

"Whatever you want ladybug." That was enough to get to all but swallow her food whole.

"Done!" She hopped up from her seat and insisted on dressing herself when Fitz asked if she needed help. Once she was gone Fitz looked at Olivia with a smile.

"Now that the munchkin's gone, we can actually have adult conversation."

Olivia chuckled. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well," he started putting on his most serious face. "We could talk about the state of the economy."

"Or global warming." She played along.

They continued going back and forth until they were both laughing. Fitz looked at Olivia. He took in the way her nose scrunched up and how she smiled. When she noticed him staring she smirked. "Now you really are staring."

"I'm sorry." He blushed. "It's just..you're just so beautiful." His blue eyes locked on her brown ones. She could feel the air in the room changing. Neither one of them said anything. Olivia could feel herself getting lost in his eyes.

"I'm ready." Ellie came running around the corner breaking them both out of their trance.

"Go pick out a movie and we'll be right there."

She turned and started heading for the living room but stopped in the doorway. She turned around and look at Olivia. "Can you come with me?" She grabbed Olivia's hand and pulled her down the hallway. When they were in the living room in front of the movie cabinet Ellie looked up at Olivia. "I like you. You're nice." She smiled.

"I like you, too." She responded relieved that the girl was not completely put off by the strange woman in her house.

When Fitz joined them they all sat on the couch, Ellie in between them per her request. She hadn't even made it through half of The Little Mermaid before she was asleep. "She tires really easy now. She's still not 100%." Fitz informed Olivia.

"Poor baby." She rubbed her arm.

Fitz gently picked Ellie up, careful not to wake her up. "Oh my baby." He kissed the side of her head.

"Daddy?" She whispered snuggling into his shoulder.

"I'm gonna put in bed. Okay?"

She nodded and looked at Olivia. "Are you coming back?"

"Of course." Olivia smiled. "And we can hang out."

Ellie nodded and her head returned to it's spot on Fitz's shoulder. He took her upstairs and tucked her into her bed and made sure she was comfortable. When he returned downstairs, he and Olivia switched the movie to something they would both enjoy but ended up talking more than actually paying attention to it. They were so deep into their conversation that they had not noticed that they bodies had subconsciously moved towards each other.

"You tired?" Fitz asked after Olivia had yawned for the 5th time.

"Yeah. I should probably head home." She started gathering her things.

He stood up too so that he could walk her out. "Thanks for coming."

"Thanks for having me." She smiled at him. "Your a very good cook and your daughter is adorable."

"Thank you and I think so too." He laughed softly. He opened the front door and followed her outside. They walked to her car in silence. When she reached to unlock it her spoke. "So I was thinking, maybe we could go out to dinner."

"Dinner?" She raised an eyebrow. "Fitz are you asking me out on a date?"

"Well." He shifted nervously. "Yes." He breathed.

"Well, in that case, my answer would be yes."

"Great." They were both smiling ear to ear at this point. "Great. I'll call you tomorrow and we can figure out a day and time."

"Sounds good." She laughed at how awkward he was in this moment. They hugged goodbye and she was surprised when he kissed her on the cheek. He watched as she got in her car and drove off down the road.

XOXOXOXOXO

Fitz was prepared to go back to work. As much as he loved his daughter, he knew that his brother was not going to be able run the law firm alone for very much longer. With Charlotte, the nanny back he was able to feel a little more at ease about being away from his child all day. Ellie on the other hand was not feeling this change at all.

"I promise I'll be back before you know it. You'll hang out with Charlotte, maybe go to a park, you'll have fun." He tried to get Ellie to stop pouting.

"No. I don't want you to go."

"What if Charlotte brings you to the office and we get lunch?" She shook her head no. He saw the tears beginning to form in her eyes and knew he needed to do something quickly. "Alright, if you promise that you will stay here with Charlotte tomorrow, you can come with me today."

"Okay!" Ellie quickly wiped the tears from her face.

A little over an hour later Fitz and Ellie were sitting in his office. He was behind his desk, she was sitting on one of the couches with a few toys that he had let her bring.

"Thank God you're back." Fitz looked up as his brother Jonathan was walking through the door. "I can't do this all by myself bro." He stopped in front of Fitz's desk.

"Hello to you too John." Fitz laughed as his brother's frazzled appearance so early in the morning.

"Look, I just came to bring you these." He placed a file on Fitz's desk. "This is the Johnson case. I thought I could handle it but I think I made it worse so it's yours now." He turned around to head to back to his office. He noticed Ellie sitting there completely focused on whatever she was drawing. "Is that my munchkin?" He pretended not to recognize her.

"Uncle J!" She grinned.

"Get over here." He opened his arms to catch her as she ran. "So, Fitz." Jonathan turned back towards Fitz. "We're gonna hang out in my office but thanks for taking on Johnson for me. I owe you one." With that he and Ellie were out the door.

"Take my child and leave me to clean up your mess." Fitz muttered shaking his head.

XOXOXOXOXO

"Liv, this might take a while. We're going to be here all night." Abby tossed the papers in her hand down on the desk.

"No can do. I have a date." She looked up when she heard a collective gasp from everyone in the room.

"You have a date. With who?" Abby asked shocked.

"His name is Fitz." Olivia smiled softly.

"How long have you been talking to this Fitz and you didn't tell me? You didn't tell anyone. More importantly you didn't tell me." She emphasized the last part.

"Abs, I'm sorry. I'll be sure to tell you about every man that I say hello to from now on."

"Well you don't have to be a smart ass." Abby said indignantly. "I just want you to tell your best friend whats going on in your love life."

"Sit down." Olivia let out a breath. She led Abby into her office. "I'll tell you about him." Olivia went on to tell Abby the story of how her and Fitz met and had been hanging out. She told her about the coffee dates and meeting Ellie over dinner.

"Oh my god." Abby grinned. "You like him. You like, like him."

"Abby don't do this." Olivia warned.

"What are you wearing on your date? Something sexy? Something to get you laid? Oh my God, you're having sex tonight."

"Abby! Please stop." Olivia was blushing. "This is why I don't tell you stuff and I'm not getting laid."

"You should. How long has it been?"

"ABIGAIL!"

"Fine. I'll leave you alone. We both have work to do." With that Abby began walking out of Olivia's office.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!