"There's hope," he repeated.
After a nurse brought back Olivia's discharge papers, Fitz picked her up, holding her in his arms again. He was taking her home, with him. Where she belongs.
Olivia was laying in one of the many guest bedrooms at Blair House, resting. Fitz had given her one of her sedatives in the car when she started to freak out. He understood her level of panic, he felt it too, when he thought about what could have happened to her if he hadn't intercepted and killed her kidnappers.
Fitz was sitting in a chair across the room, watching her. The lights were out and nothing but the glow of the moon cast what little light there was in the room. He had one finger resting on his top lip and his thumb under his chin as he sat there. He felt like he'd aged 10 years in the last few hours. His tie was loose, hanging around his neck, while his shirt was un-tucked and halfway unbuttoned. He was partially obscured by the shadows in the room.
The only thing helping him stay calm was the rise and fall of Olivia's chest as she breathed in and out. She looked so peaceful thanks to the sedatives, otherwise he knew her brow would be furrowed and she'd be awake and probably pacing in circles.
Fitz was pulled from his thoughts by John's voice. "Sir, I need to see you in the conference room."
"Keep your voice down, John. She's sleeping and if she wakes up I'll have your ass," Fitz said. He stood up and moved to follow John out of the bedroom.
"Yeah right. After that stunt you pulled earlier today it's me who should be having your ass. I still can't believe you were so reckless. Do you know the kind of ass-chewing I just got because you decided to disarm men whose job it is to protect you, all so you could save Miss Pope?" John gave Fitz a side-eye.
"John, Miss Pope, is the love of my life. You're lucky I only disarmed you and didn't permanently debilitate you, or worse, kill you."
John didn't respond. He knew Fitz was right. Many people weren't aware of the skills that Fitz possessed and his agents liked to keep it that way. If push ever came to shove, they'd have the element of surprise if Fitz had to help save himself.
As soon as they arrived at the conference room, everyone stood. Fitz motioned for them to sit down before taking a seat. Everyone glanced at each other, wondering about Fitz's disheveled appearance.
"Talk to me," he said. They could hear how tired he was. Apparently, the adrenaline rush from earlier was officially over.
John spoke up first. "Sir, we've had agents working to figure out the location of Andrew Nichols and Elizabeth North and we have reason to believe that they may have fled the city together. As for Kubiak, he's in the wind. I don't think he'll be easily found, but we have the best men working on it."
"Okay," Fitz said. "I think I know how to figure out where Andrew and Elizabeth are going."
"How?" Another agent, Michael, asked.
"Don't worry about that at the moment. What I need to know is what the hell happened to the agents I sent to Olivia's apartment earlier this evening?" No one spoke. "Answer me!"
Fitz looked around the room but everyone was avoiding his gaze.
"Someone better speak, right now, or so help me God, I will grab one of your guns and shoot every last one of you and then you're all fired!" Fitz knew he was being irrational, but he was still livid. If he didn't have the skills he had, and if he hadn't figured out what was going to happen… He had to stop himself from following that train of thought.
Fitz sat back in his chair and closed his eyes for a second, trying to calm down.
"Sir, we have reason to believe that they received a phone call telling them that you had given the order for them to come back to the White House."
Fitz wasn't sure who had spoken. His eyes flew open and he glanced around the room at every agent, briefly. He had to have been hearing things. But he knew he heard right and he had a pretty good feeling he knew who might've made the call. It was the same person who knew exactly where Andrew and Elizabeth were.
"Who do you guys work for?" Fitz asked. No one spoke. "It's your job to protect whom?" Still nothing. "I'm going to assume that in order to be a Secret Service Agent you cannot be dumb as a rock, correct me if I'm wrong, though." Fitz waited for someone to correct him. "Since no one has said anything then I'll assume that I'm right, yet again. Which means, unless the Deputy Director gives you an order, you take orders from me. Am I right?"
Everyone nodded their heads yes.
"I want a list of the names of every agent who was sent out to Miss Pope's apartment, and I want it yesterday." Fitz stood up and left the room. He was too tired to listen to anything else they had to say. It could all wait until later today as far as he was concerned. His main priority was getting back to his Livvie.
When Olivia woke up hours later, she felt someone lying with her. She tensed up for a few seconds until she remembered that Fitz came and saved her. She was okay. Lifting her head, she could see the sun coming through the blinds, so she guessed that it had to be around afternoon time, maybe. But she wasn't sure what day it was. It felt like she'd been asleep for a few days now, at least.
Fitz immediately woke up as soon as he felt Olivia start to stir. "Hi," he said. He'd fallen asleep shortly after returning to the room and getting in bed with Olivia, wrapping himself around her.
"Hi," she said. "Where are we?"
"One of the guest bedrooms in Blair House."
Olivia laid her head back down on the bed, staring at Fitz. She could feel tears forming in her eyes. Fitz tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear before rubbing the backs of his fingers tenderly down her cheek.
"Don't cry Livvie. It's okay. You know I would never let anything happen to you."
Olivia closed her eyes and nodded her head in acknowledgment of his statement. He pulled her into his chest, holding her tightly while she tried not to cry, but his actions were making it harder for her to hold back her tears.
Hearing her cry made Fitz's heart break. He was even angrier, if that were possible, at those agents and their stupidity; and not to mention Mellie. He knew it was her who placed the call, but why? Did she really love Andrew that much? Or did she just hate him that much? What had Olivia ever done to Mellie? True enough, Olivia showing up in their lives just reinforced that there was no hope for their marriage, but Mellie had to have known that before Olivia showed up. Hell, all of America knew it. That's why they needed Olivia in the first place.
"It was me, wasn't it?" she asked.
"What was you?"
"I was the thing that was supposed to motivate you to go to war, right?" She didn't wait for him to respond. "It makes sense now. Anyone who's close enough to you, and has seen you near me, can figure it out. I'm your Achilles heel."
Fitz swallowed, afraid to confirm her suspicions.
"I just don't understand. Was it really that important to Andrew and Elizabeth that we go to war, important enough to risk my life? I could've been killed. Who's to say the kidnappers wouldn't have gotten brazen and decided to hurt me?"
Fitz was shocked at just how sharp her mind was at a time like this. Most people were very disoriented after taking a sedative, but she was alert and processing. That was his Livvie, ladies and gents. She was voicing every question he'd been asking himself last night as he watched her sleep.
Their time together was interrupted, though, by a loud commotion outside in the hallway. Fitz jumped up immediately, preparing to exit the room, but Olivia stopped him. They both knew who was on the other side of the door.
"We face this together, Fitz," she told him. "If there's going to continue to be any hope for us, we have to be a united team. Right?"
"Right," he said, smiling at her.
Before they could say anything else, they heard a boom as someone forced the door open and it flew back, hitting the wall.
"Fitzgerald, Olivia," Mellie said, folding her arms across her chest and glaring back and forth between the two of them.
Earlier that evening…
Mellie had been sitting in what used to be her and Fitz's bedroom, waiting on him to come up from the Oval Office, but he seemed content to take his precious little time. She was getting angrier the longer she had to wait. How dare he embarrass me like this? I am his wife! I will not continue to be humiliated like this anymore!
As soon as Mellie returned to the White House from a fundraiser she had to attend out of state, she'd received word from one of her favorite Secret Service agents that Olivia Pope had come to the White House one night this week and Fitz had brought her up to their bedroom. She already knew what went down as soon as she was told that Olivia didn't leave until the next day.
It's like Fitz didn't care about her feelings at all. When it came to Olivia Pope, the world could crash and burn for all Fitz cared, and he'd let Mellie crash and burn right along with it. He only saw his kids and Olivia, no one else. Mellie didn't know how much more of it that she could take, but she would be damned if she signed any divorce papers. If Fitz hadn't leaked Olivia's name as his mistress, the world would absolutely adore Olivia and Mellie knew that America would be welcoming Olivia into the White House with open arms.
Mellie wondered briefly if, perhaps, Olivia didn't know who leaked her name. Mellie smirked at the thought. I wonder what Olivia will think of her "precious Fitz" if she knew…
Mellie didn't have time to think about it further when she got a coded message from Andrew. The plan was in action. After tonight, Fitz would see what it was like to live without his precious Olivia. Sure, he'd get her back eventually… maybe. That ultimate decision was hers to make. Andrew and Elizabeth only cared about the country going to war with West Angola. Mellie's goal was to break Fitz.
Tired of waiting, she decided to make her way down to the Oval Office and see what was keeping Fitz. She knew of a secret entrance that she could get to that allowed her access to the Oval Office without having to go past his Secretary. But just as she was about to twist the doorknob, she heard his voice and it didn't take long for her to figure out whom he was talking to by his sickeningly sweet tone of voice and words.
If Mellie thought she was angry before, then she didn't know how to describe what she was feeling right now. It went beyond rage. It was something deeper. After all she'd done and given up for him, he can't seem to get Olivia out of his system.
She made her way to the other door where his Secretary was likely sitting when she heard him curse and run out of the room. Hiding out of sight but where she could still hear, she heard him tell his agents that he needed a group sent to Olivia Pope's place. She knew then, Fitz had figured it out. She had to give him credit; he was smarter than she liked to think he was.
The agents were so busy rushing and trying to get what Fitz wanted done that they didn't even notice her standing there. Idiots.
Once the coast was clear, Mellie calmly made her way to her office. She locked the door and placed a call to her favorite agent, Hal.
A/N: This is where I shall leave you guys. I hope it isn't too cruel of me, lol. So what do you think will happen next? You know now who made the call, and Hal isn't somewhere twiddling his thumbs in this story. He's alive and well, and still "meddling". Will Mellie tell Olivia who leaked her name? If she does, how will Olivia react?