"The stairs? Seriously, Liv?"
Fitz and Olivia were standing, hand and hand, choosing weather to take the elevator or the stairs down to the White House kitchens.
Liv laughed. "We're taking the stairs. Look," Olivia pulled her five-inch heals off and handed them to Fitz, who took them with a roll of his eyes. "Now no one will have any chance at all of falling."
"But look at this beautiful elevator! The kitchens are three flights down, might I remind you."
"Come on, it's more fun," Olivia said, letting go of his hand and starting down the stairs. She paused at the third step down. "Coming?" she asked seductively with a wink. Fitz sighed, and followed her down.
Once they had reached the third floor down, they went through two double doors down a long hallway, until they reached the largest cooking space Olivia had ever seen.
"Holy shit, Fitz! This is huge." He chuckled, leading her to one of the refrigerators. He had already asked all the staff to clear the place out, so it was just the two of them. "What should I make for us?"
"You? Cooking? That's funny."
"Not as funny as you cooking, Ms. Wine and Popcorn," Fitz shot back. "Besides, I'm actually good at cooking. I took a culinary class in college."
"No, you didn't," Olivia said with a wide grin on her face.
"Sure did. Now, what do you want to eat? I could do… spaghetti?"
"Chic, Fitz," Olivia said with a laugh.
"Chic is my middle name."
"Oh, I know it," Liv said. The two chuckled as Fitz started chopping up tomatoes.
"I'm going to find wine," Liv called, opening doors at random, searching for the wine cellar.
"Seventh one down on the right," called Fitz. Olivia shook her head, amazed at the size of the place. After she had selected the perfect red, she made her way back towards Fitz, who was finished with the tomatoes and had gotten out two glasses and an opener. She hoisted herself up onto the counter, and watched him cut and stir and boil, loving the way his eyes stayed focus the entire time.
Once he had finished, and everything was cooking or boiling, he stood in front of her, their heads level due to the fact that Liv was sitting on the counter. They stared into each other's eyes before Liv broke the silence.
"You know that was kind of hot, right? Do you cook for all the girls you bring home?"
"Only the special ones," he said with a grin.
"I guess that makes me lucky."
"I would have to say that I'm the lucky one here," Fitz said. Olivia opened her legs wider and he stood between them. She set her wine glass down and gently placed her hands around his neck, drawing their foreheads together.
"Hi," she breathed.
"Hi," he whispered. She could smell him, a smokey, cologne-y scent that had her wanting more.
"Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?"
"Tell me again," she said, a small smile playing at her lips.
"You're beautiful," he leaned in closer, their lips about to meet. "And I love you," he breathed into her mouth. Just as their lips landed on each other, Fitz jolted back. "And the pasta is going to overcook. Shit!"
Olivia laughed, watching him fumble to find off switch for the stove.
"Baby, look down. It's right in front of you," she said. Fitz sighed, turning it off, and pulled the pot out of the one that was holding the water, draining the pasta. Olivia giggled, and stuck a finger into the sauce. She hopped off the counter, and stroked his nose, creating a red streak. Fitz scowled.
"It's okay. I'll clean up your mess," she whispered, licking the sauce off of his nose. She proceeded to kiss his nose and all over his face, the two laughing at her attempt to intensify things.
"Okay… eat first, make out later," Fitz said, kissing her forehead.
Olivia's mouth pulled into a pout, as she sat back on the counter top. Fitz laughed, coming back in between her legs. Before she knew it his lips were on hers. She responded immediately, running her hands through his hair and pulling him closer, deepening the kiss. Soon, her tongue was in his mouth, and one of his hands was playing at the hem of her t-shirt. Olivia finally pulled away, both taking a breath.
"Okay, eat now," she said happily. Fitz laughed.
"Come on, I know where I want us to eat."
He grabbed a container, throwing the pasta and sauce into it, and the bottle of wine, and led her by the hand to a new mysterious location.
END OF FLASHBACK
—
TWO WEEKS LATER
Olivia jolted back to reality after hearing Quinn's voice resinate throughout OPA.
"The devil is calling again!" Quinn yelled throughout the office.
"Quinn! What did I say about calling her that?" scolded Olivia, seeing the caller ID being Mellie's.
Quinn ignored Olivia's comment. "Should I pick up?"
"No, just let it ring," Olivia called, not wanting to deal with the former FLOTUS at the moment. Olivia sighed, running her hands through her hair.
"Okay, people, we have a case!" yelled Olivia, as Quinn came out, followed by Marcus, and then finally Huck and Stephen.
"Congresswoman Polson called a couple of minutes ago, something about her daughter missing, so we're going over to her house. Huck, while we're in the car find out everything you can. Her name is Kayla Polson. Everybody, grab your stuff, we're taking my car."
They all got their stuff, Huck bringing a bag full of equipment, Quinn taking her laptop, Marcus with the cameras and gloves, and Stephen just picking up his briefcase. The four met Olivia in her SUV, Quinn naturally taking shotgun while Marcus and Stephen took the two middle row seats, and Huck dominated the back row.
Stephen leaned forward and turned the radio on and immediately him, Marcus, and Quinn started fighting about which station to listen to until they finally agreed on listening to a pop station, just for the fun of it.
The entire time Olivia was rolling her eyes with a smile on her eyes as they got onto the highway, and Huck was hacking away at his computer.
Olivia, Quinn, and Stephen were all wearing sunglasses, and Stephen was loudly singing along to Justin Bieber, which caused Quinn and Olivia to burst out laughing the second the song came on and Stephen knew the lyrics.
They were cruising along the I-395, and all five of them felt genuinely happy for the first time in a long time. With Stephen's return things felt very… normal, a word that hadn't been used in any of their vocabulary in too long of a time.
"Okay, I hacked into Kayla's Instagram and Facebook. She doesn't have a Twitter. I also can get into her brothers' if needed. She has three older brothers, the oldest is 18, two twins that are 16, and then she is 14," called Huck, and Stephen immediately stopped in the middle of singing Where are Ü Now to listen.
"Okay, what did you find?" called Olivia from the wheel.
"Well, I don't know when she first went missing, but she hasn't been on either for 47 hours, and this is normal for her Instagram, but weird for her Facebook, because she normally is posting or liking things on that almost every hour. And—" but Huck stopped mid sentence, finding something.
"What is it?" asked Marcus.
"It's… the oldest brother. His name is Josh. As of one month ago he's Karen Grant's boyfriend. They all go to the same school as her."
Of fucking course Olivia thought to herself.
"Okay, well after we meet with the parents and brothers we can assess and see if we need to talk to Karen," sighed Liv.
"I think we will need to talk to her, regardless. From the looks of this Kayla seriously looks up to Karen, even though they have only been close for less than a month. Tons of posts, she's always tagging her in stuff… even her profiles on Facebook and Instagram resemble Karen's… Whenever Karen posts something, Kayla does… Weird," Huck said.
"What?" asked Stephen, Quinn, and Olivia at the same time.
"It's like Kayla wants to be just like Karen. Ever since Karen started dating Josh… Kayla started dressing the same as Karen, shopping at the same stores, she even got more piercings on her ears to match the amount that Karen has. This is kind of creepy. She's… obsessed."
Olivia and Quinn shared a worried glance.
"Okay, well we're going to be at their house in two minutes so we can find out more…" Olivia was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing. Mellie, for like the fifth time that day. She sighed, and hung up. But a couple of seconds later her phone rang again, from Mellie. Olivia's brow furrowed. Why was Mellie calling her so much? Olivia reluctantly picked up, as Mellie's voice immediately filled the bluetooth in her car.
"Olivia, thank God you picked up. I need your help," Mellie cried in a frantic voice.
"Mellie, I'm sorry… I really can't do your campaign," Olivia said.
"No, no that's not it at all—" but just then another call came through Olivia's phone.
"Give me one minute, Mellie, I'm getting another call…" Olivia put Mellie on hold, and all of a sudden the President's voice filled the car.
"Liv? It's Karen, she's missing," Fitz's worried voice said.
"What?" the five of them cried.
"Jesus…" muttered Olivia.
"Liv? God, I'm sorry, but I need your help… she didn't come home after school yesterday, and I thought that maybe she was at her friends house, but it's been almost 40 hours… I don't even know where to begin looking," he said, pain in his voice.
"We do," said Quinn.
"Quinn? Where are you guys," said Fitz, taken aback.
"Yeah, Karen's boyfriend's younger sister just went missing too. They are probably linked. We're driving over to Congresswoman Polson's house right now," explained Olivia.
"Josh's younger sister? Kayla is missing? Yeah, they must be linked. Whenever Josh was over, so was Kayla. She was always following Karen around… cute kid. Liv…"
"I'm on it, Fitz. I'll find her, and I'll end up finding Kayla with her. I can already tell. I'll call you with more information, okay?"
"Should I come over to Sarah's house?"
"Congresswoman's? I don't know… I'll call you, okay? Things are that bad yet. I'm sure they won't be. Just Karen and Kayla having a girls weekend."
"Okay, thanks Liv,"
"Yeah," she said, hanging up.
The five were silent for a moment.
"Huck?" Liv said in a whisper.
"Yeah?"
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking what I'm thinking?"
"We all are," said Marcus.
"I'm sorry, what are we all thinking?"
"That Kayla kidnapped Karen," predicted Stephen.
"What? Why are we thinking that?"
"It all adds up. The dressing alike, the obsession… Fitz even said that Kayla would be over when Josh was. Kayla didn't want to be like Karen… she wanted to be Karen," said Liv.
"So Kayla kidnapped Karen," finished Quinn.
"What about the boyfriend, Josh? I bet he didn't like his little sister imposing on his time with his girlfriend…" started Stephen.
"… and Karen would of just thought that it was cute. Of course! It all makes since," Liv said, pulling into a parking space. The five hurriedly got out of the car, and rang the bell at the Polsen's mansion.
The door was immediately opened by a pretty, but worried looking blonde woman.
"Sarah," said Liv, pulling her into a hug.
"Liv, I'm so sorry for making you come all the way down here… It's just that it's my Kayla… I can't loose her too," the woman said, referring to the recent death of her husband, due to cancer. Mrs. Polson kindly said hello to Olivia's associates, all while bringing them into their large sitting room.
"Sarah, we may already have an idea about what happened to your daughter."
"You know where my baby is?"
"Who she's with," said Liv, shooting Huck a worried glance.
"What?"
"Before we say anything, I'd really like to speak with your son, Josh."
"Joshie? He doesn't have anything to do with this, does he?" the frazzled woman ran a hand through her long blonde hair. "He and Kayla never got along…"
"Because she's an annoying little brat who doesn't have anything to do with her life but piss me off me," said a voice. Olivia turned around, and could immediately tell that the boy descending the stairs was Josh. The tall boy was very handsome, with blue eyes, dusty blonde hair, and his mother's strong jaw line.
"Josh, I'm—"
"Olivia Pope, sure, Kare has told me all about you," he said, a genuine smile lighting up his face.
"Good, then you know what I do."
"Yeah, your job sounds amazing. And I hear that you're the best at," he said, the handsome, boyish grin still on his face.
"That's very kind of you to say. But, Josh, I need you to tell me something. Have you spoken to Karen the last couple of days?"
"Karen?" asked the congresswoman, confused as to what Josh's girlfriend had to do with anything.
"No, actually," said Josh, his brow furrowing. "I was just about to call her. We normally text each other every day, but I haven't heard from her at all today," he explained. "Wait…" he said, starting to put things together. "Is she okay?"
"Josh… her parents both just called me. They haven't heard from her in 40 hours. Kayla has been missing for almost 48… they might be linked."
"She did it," whispered Josh.
"Didn't quite catch that, mate," said Stephen.
"It was Kayla," said Josh.
"What? Josh? What are you talking about?" the Congresswoman said.
"Kayla took Karen! She was always worshiping her, always wanted to be just like her… Shit! I should of seen this coming! I always thought it was weird how Kayla followed Kare around like a lost puppy, and then recently she started acting… different," said Josh.
"Different how?" pushed Olivia.
"It doesn't matter! All that matters is that my sister kidnapped my girlfriend, and that I'm going to fucking kill her if she hurts Karen in any way," Josh yelled.