"You said there was hope. You shouldn't have said it if you knew you couldn't handle what it meant."
They continued their playful argument all the way upstairs.
That night, they made love so many times that they both lost count. All they knew was that there was still hope. That's all that mattered. No matter what would happen from this moment forward, they would both cling desperately to the notion of hope. It was what made everything up to this point worth it; every stolen moment, every night in each other's hotel room on the trail, every evening he snuck away from the White House to come to her apartment.
The next day when Liv started to stretch in bed, she tried to determine if she dreamed last night or if it was in fact reality. God she hoped she hadn't dreamed it. Opening one eye, she was delighted to see Fitz lying in bed next to her. His hair was tousled, his head was propped up on his fist as he watched her fight off the last remnants of sleep. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared into the deep, rich blueness of his eyes.
"Hi," she said, smiling.
"Hi," he responded. His hand came up to move her hair out of her face.
Both of their voices were pretty hoarse from crying out while in the throes of passion last night.
Olivia sat up, pulling the sheet up around her naked chest. "Where's my phone?" she muttered to herself as she looked around the room. Spotting it across the room on the floor, she got out of bed, naked as the day she was born, to retrieve it. Fitz immediately sat up upon seeing her naked body. She was so tiny, yet she had all the right curves in all the right places. He could spend all day memorizing every part of her body. But she would never let him do that. Reality always had to interfere. Fitz got up to take a shower so he could start getting dressed. He had a busy day ahead of him.
When he emerged from the bathroom Olivia was back in her clothes from yesterday and pacing in circles. Uh oh, he thought.
"What's wrong?" he asked, as he dropped his towel and found some underwear to put on. He was in the process of putting on his undershirt when she stopped pacing.
"I got a voicemail, last night. It's from Tom."
Fitz stopped moving. He turned to her, slowly. His face was expressionless but for a brief moment his nostrils flared and his jaws clenched. He continued getting dressed as though he hadn't heard her.
"He told me who killed Jerry," Olivia whispered. She hated that their moment of bliss had to be ruined so quickly. This always happened to them. They could never have a moment of happiness, at least, not for long. Someone or something always brought their time together to a quick end. But she meant what she said last night. There was hope.
"It wasn't Jake, Fitz," she said.
Fitz glanced up at her. He was torn. He loved her and he trusted her more than anyone else in his life. But when Jake was involved he didn't know what to believe, or think. She had been advocating for Jake's innocence from the beginning and he assumed it had to do with her feelings for him. But she said there was hope for them. And that meant something. Right?
"Okay," he said, slowly.
"We need to go see Jake. Maybe we can work together. Tom, he's B613 just like Jake. He said my father was the one who gave the orders."
Olivia watched as Fitz's face fell. For a moment she was confused and then it clicked. Her father. He was the one who made Fitz believe that Jake was responsible for Jerry's death. Of course he would do something like that, she thought. It probably didn't help that Fitz was already biased against Jake.
"Olivia…" Fitz paused. He wasn't sure what to say. He was standing there, fully dressed except for his tie, which was undone and hanging loosely around his neck.
Olivia walked up to him, tying his tie. "Fitz, I know you don't like Jake. But my gut tells me that Tom is telling the truth. Besides, what would Jake gain from having Jerry killed?"
Fitz sighed. "Fine, I'll clear my schedule and we'll go see him in a few hours. But we have to be in this together Liv. You and me."
"You and me," she said, agreeing.
Olivia and Fitz were talking on the way to see Jake.
"According to Tom, my father sent someone to shut him up yesterday. Rowan knows that Tom spoke with me. He must know that I'm on to him."
"I still can't believe it was Rowan. Well I can but…I trusted him." Fitz was angry with himself as he flipped through the evidence that Olivia had brought along for him to see. After he left for his morning briefing, she had been escorted out of the White House discreetly. "What is the plan?"
"Right now, I need you and Jake to put your differences aside so that we can work together. We, you and I, are a team, but we need to include Jake as well, for the time being.
Fitz eyed her wearily. He didn't say anything, merely nodding his head in silent agreement.
Fitz followed Liv into the bunker. Jake was seated at the table, sporting a few bruises thanks to Fitz's handiwork.
Fitz took a seat, remaining silent. Liv addressed Jake, filling him in on what they had found out. She was trying not to stare too long at the bruises on his face. Fitz and Jake were busy glaring at one another, well mainly Jake. Fitz was taking quick glances at Olivia.
Suddenly, Jake spoke. "So, now I'm innocent, is what you're telling me? Good. Pleased to hear that. Should we take turns hugging? Or how does this work, exactly?"
Already Fitz was annoyed with Jake and his sarcasm. "Look, Jake—"
Fitz was interrupted by Jake. "Captain Ballard. Jake is what my friends call me. You're not my friend, Mr. President. Friends don't put you in prison for crimes you didn't commit. They don't refuse to hear you when you're telling them the truth. They don't hit you when you can't hit back. So from this point forward, when you refer to me, it will be as Captain Ballard, is that understood?"
Fitz almost laughed. At one point, long, long ago he might've considered them friends. But that was before Jake, or Captain Ballard as he stubbornly wanted to be called, tried to take his woman. Fitz was a kind man, he didn't mind sharing, especially with the less fortunate, but not his woman. She was off limits to anyone who wasn't him. He didn't know who this pompous asshole thought he was, but he would be the bigger man.
Jake turned his attention to Olivia. "Liv, has Rowan been arrested?"
"There isn't enough proof," she responded.
"Okay, good," said Jake.
"Good?" asked Fitz. He was briefly starting to wonder if Jake had in fact lost his mind. Maybe he hit him one time too many, or a little too hard.
Jake continued because he liked to hear himself talk or something along those lines. "What's easier? Killing a man when he's surrounded by guards, or doing it when he's out on the street and there's no one there to protect him?"
"No one's killing anyone," Olivia said.
"Someone's killing someone," said Jake.
"Jake." Fitz tried to interject. Jake's obsession with killing someone was worrying him. Was this really the man that his Livvie went away with. What if Jake had gone off the deep end and decided to hurt her? Fitz didn't even want to entertain that thought.
"Captain Ballard," Jake corrected, pettily.
"We want justice too, Jake. We all want justice." Olivia was trying to reason with him.
"I don't want justice. I want to kill your father. And I want you to let me do that."
"I can't!"
"Why?"
"What we're looking for here is evidence," Fitz yelled.
"Excuse me. I'm talking to my girlfriend."
Fitz decided to ignore that little comment. "If we can build a case against Rowan—"
Olivia was still stuck on Jake's girlfriend comment. Surely he didn't really believe that they had anything but occasionally good sex. And she was being very kind when she said good sex. It was really mediocre at best. Actually, she was sure she could get more satisfaction from her own fingers.
"He's still talking to me isn't he?" asked Jake. Fitz was starting to think he was arguing with an eight-year old girl. His youngest child, Teddy, wasn't this difficult and he could barely talk.
"—prosecute him for the crimes we know he's committed, put him in prison—" Fitz was trying to continue but Jake interrupted him yet again.
Fitz and Jake continued to argue back and forth, neither man willing to back down and let the other one "win". Occasionally Olivia would try to speak, too. She had to get Jake to see reason. They needed to take down Rowan but she didn't want any blood to be shed. She didn't love Jake, but she cared about him. She might not want to be with him forever but she still didn't want him to die.
"But you and me, we stand in the sun. We stand in the sun, Jake. That's what we do." Olivia tried the only thing she knew would get Jake to shut up and listen. It was wrong, but she had to play on his feelings for her. She knew he'd listen then. For a moment she felt guilty about saying these words in front of Fitz, but he had to know that they were endgame, no one else. "So, please, if there's anything you know, anything you have that will help us put my father away, you need to tell us. We need to do this right."
Jake had a smug look on his face at her words. Little did he know, they were just that, words. If they really stood in the sun like she claimed they did, she would've stayed on the island with him. Or better yet, immediately after burying Harrison she would've gotten on the first plane out of there with Jake so they could go back to the island. But she didn't, because she didn't want to.
After their unsuccessful meeting with Jake, Fitz and Olivia both left to give him some time to think about whether or not he would actually cooperate. Thankfully, he finally decided to man up and stop acting like a petulant child. This time they brought in David Rosen to try and convince him to help them. Once the meeting was over Fitz left out first. As soon as Olivia came out of the bunker Fitz moved from his position leaning on the wall, placing his hand on Olivia's arm and walking alongside her.
"You all right?" he asked. His first concern would always be her and her wellbeing. Always.
"I'm fine." Typical Olivia response, of course.
"This can't be easy for you. Whatever else Rowan is, he is your father." Fitz would know. His late father was the devil himself as far as Fitz was concerned, but at the end of the day he was still his father. Despite not wanting to be, he was very much affected by Big Jerry's actions all the way up until his death.
"I'm fine," Olivia repeated.
Fitz wasn't deterred though. He was still holding on to the fact that there was hope. "When this is over, you and me, Camp David, just us," Fitz said, leaning in to kiss her. He was slightly confused when she backed up a bit. He didn't want to believe that seeing Jake actually made her doubt that there was hope for them. "You don't want to kiss me because of Jake."
"That's not—"
"This is interesting." Fitz was actually amused. This was truly interesting. For the millionth time, Fitz wondered why he ever asked Jake to watch Olivia.
"Fitz—" Liv tried to explain, backing up until her back hit the wall behind her.
"No, really, it is." He paused. "You don't know what to do. Is it disloyal to want me? Or is it disloyal to want him? You don't know." Honestly, Fitz had to admire her "loyalty". But he knew at the end of the day, she was his. They belonged together. He moved towards her, invading her personal space
Olivia tried to control her breathing. "Okay, just stop it." Fitz being this close only made her want to do one thing and it wasn't talking.
Fitz stared at her, moving even closer to her but not touching her. "Kiss me."
Olivia was taken aback by his request. It's not that she didn't want to. Kissing him was her second favorite thing in the world. "What?"
"Kiss me," Fitz repeated.
"Let's just go," Olivia said. She didn't want to do this here. She'd rather they be in her bedroom. She was trying to avoid eye contact with Fitz so he wouldn't know where her thoughts had gone.
"Look at me," he commanded. "We are alone. Locked doors, no cameras. You and me." His eyes traveled down to her lips. He wasn't going to move until she kissed him. He needed to feel her lips on his to be reassured. "Everything that has happened, everything that will happen, right now none of it matters. There's no price. This one's free. It's just you and me." He paused, letting his words sink in. It had always been just she and him. It always would be as far as he was concerned. "Kiss me Olivia. You know you want to."
Olivia gulped. She was trying not to get lost in his eyes. But his voice, it did things to her, things that shouldn't be legal. She knew once her lips touched his it would be over. She'd be taking her clothes off quicker than he could say strip. He was so close to her and her body was hyper aware of this fact. She always felt the most alive when they were this close.
"Kiss me," he said again. This time he leaned forward as though he were going to kiss her. "Kiss me."
The ball was in her court this time. Her breathing became ragged as she tried not to show how desperately she wanted to kiss him. To hell with this shit, she thought. I want this. I know it and he does too.
So she went for it. Their lips met, fusing together as though it were the only way for them to receive oxygen and they were about to die. Olivia's hand pulled Fitz closer to her by his neck, holding him in place. Involuntarily, her body tried to move as close to him as possible. It was like she was drawn to him by some magnetic force. She was really getting into the kiss, breathing hard, almost to the point of panting in his mouth. Fitz cupped her face in his hands as she tried to deepen the kiss even further. He literally had to force their lips apart. If he didn't he was sure Liv would be trying to climb his body. Not that he'd mind, but they couldn't do that here.
The look on Olivia's face once she realized that Fitz wasn't kissing her anymore would have been comical if she didn't look so murderous. She quickly tried to compose herself, but it was too late. He knew just how much the kiss affected her.
"You don't go this way. Go another way."
Fitz had the cutest puzzled expression on his face. "It's a bunker. There's only one way."
Olivia wanted to laugh at herself once she realized that he was right. Damn, she had it bad. But she wouldn't have it any other way. Fitz gave her a look as though to say "now tell me there isn't still hope and next I'll fuck you against the wall, location be damned" as Olivia walked off. He admired the way her backside moved in her slacks before following her out.
He hoped he'd get to see her again and soon. He'd like to show her a few more ways that there's hope.
A/N: So, this story was going to be a one-shot initially. Then chapter 2 happened and I was like, "Okay, maybe there's potential here." I had hope for Olitz ever since this episode, even when it seemed like there really wasn't any. But I didn't know how I wanted to continue this story so I decided to wait. Then of course that Finale that God wrote was bestowed upon us, and well…you know why I'm here. So I think we all know how this story will end. The question is, how will I get us there? I know I only want to focus on olitz-centric moments while adding my own little tidbits to it, but I do not want to add the kidnapping into this story coz that was just, NO! Or should I? Leave me suggestions por favor. Oh and enjoy lovelies! (It's very late so excuse any grammatical errors please)