Sorry I've been away for so long, I was kind of losing my Olitz-mojo after watching these past few weeks of Scandal, but I know that I have to finish my stories so I'm trying to get it back. It's interesting to see how people are divided on Olitz. About half of you feel that Liv got off easy not telling Fitz about Danny while the other half feel that Fitz got off easy with Liv still accepting him after all the things he said/did to her. But it's just interesting to see the discussion. This chapter's a little shorter than usual, mostly because I just decided to write it on impulse tonight but enjoy!

Chapter 20: Taking It Slow

"I honestly don't know where to start. I want you to be in Danny's life, he really needs a father figure, but I'm not sure that this is going to work between us. So much has happened, so much has been said…"

"I know, and I'm sorry, especially for what I said and did to you that night five years ago. You didn't deserve any of that. I didn't know what to do. I had established this life with Virginia and I was scared to leave it all behind, but, Liv, my life has been hell without you. Yes, I've been to all these great places and I have all these fantastic stories to tell you and seems like everything is going great but not having you in my life, not even getting to see your face or hear your voice for years has been destroying me. I need you, Livvie," he says earnestly, his eyes never losing contact with hers.

"If you needed me then why didn't you come after me?" She says, asking him the question that had been on her heart all evening and for many years.

"I told you, I was scared to leave everything I had built with Virginia—"

"That's not what I mean. I mean ten years ago when I called it quits on us. I was angry and sad and what you had done just added fuel to the fire, so I said that I never wanted to see you again. But I thought you would come after me because that's what you do when you love someone, you don't just let them go, you fight for them. But you just gave up so easily, so I thought that you had moved on and that you didn't want anything to do with me and that I had broken us beyond repair," she says, hanging her head in sadness and shame.

He slowly advances towards her but with every step he takes, she takes one back, but this doesn't stop him. He continues until she hits the wall and he stands right in front of her, taking her hands in his. She flinches but doesn't move away from him.

"Liv, I did try to come after you, but when I tried, all of your friends at the time kept telling me that you had moved on with some guy you met in Boston. They all said that he made you happy and that was what you needed after everything you had been through. And after what I did with that girl…I thought I couldn't give that to you or earn back your trust, so I didn't try. I gave up…"

"I didn't start dating him immediately. It took me a while. Either my friends got it wrong or they lied. I didn't just move on." She pauses as she sighs then continues, "I'm sorry for walking away from you and saying all those horrible things. Fitz, you're the love of my life but this whole thing is confusing and frustrating. I want you and I still love you but I'm afraid that I'm not ready for us to be together again. I'm afraid that I'll ruin everything or that something will come in between us again and if we were to break apart again, I wouldn't be able to bare it."

"Livvie, I'm not ever giving you up again. I know life can be hard and circumstances can be tough and push people to their breaking point and I'm sorry for all the hurt that I've caused you over all these years but I've been more than ready to be with you and if you'll just give us another chance, I think that we can be stronger than we've ever been before. Please, Livvie, take me back," he says softly, moving his hands down to her hips and putting his forehead to hers, breathing her in.

Olivia breathes him in, feeling so close to him in this moment. "We have to take this slow," she finally says, placing her hands on his chest. "I want us to re-learn each other and do it the right way. I don't want to ruin this by being hasty or giving into hot feelings…which means no sex for a while.

He nods slowly. "Okay, we'll take it slow," he says and kisses her hand. She can't help but lean into him, prompting him to put his arms around her as they stare out the window of the hotel room. She feels so much peace wrapped in his strong arms with her head on his chest as she listens to his heartbeat and for once feels like she's a little closer to home.

She eventually pulls back, wanting to stay in that position all night, but if they were going to follow through with the whole take-it-slow approach, that wouldn't be the best way to start off.

"Um, let me give you my number," Olivia says, writing it down on a piece of paper. "You don't live that far away from me. Danny's birthday is next week Friday so if you want, you can come…or any other time, really."

He nods. "I'll be there and I'll call you soon," he says, leaning in and leaving a lingering kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight, Olivia," he says, backing away with the slip of paper in hand and closing the door behind him.

As soon as he's gone, Olivia collapses onto the bed and closes her eyes towards the ceiling.

As soon as Olivia's plane touches down in California the next day, she heads home, first to drop off her things and after getting a quick bite to eat, she makes a drive to her most private place. She had been coming here for years but no one in her family or even her closest friends knew a thing and she would always want to keep it that way. No one had the right or need to know. This is where she came to reflect and reminisce and sometimes to just be.

She takes a parking space close to the grass area and gets out, taking her time to get to her destination. It was an empty and lonely place, but she still felt a sense of peace and serenity over the gloominess. She stops at the tombstone and runs her hand over the arch before sitting down on the grass. She takes a deep breath before she begins to speak, "Hey. I know I haven't been here in a while but it's just been really tough with work and everything. You wouldn't believe who I met while I was in New York—Fitz. He knows about Danny…I knew that I couldn't keep it hidden forever but I just wanted to do it the right way and I thought I'd be more prepared. I guess my past has come back to haunt me sooner than I thought it would, but he took it a lot better than I thought he would. I remember all those years ago when I was in high school and thought that my life was horrible. I was so pessimistic, everyone thought that I was going through some weird emo phase," she says with a chuckle and then stares at the ground dreamily. "And then I met Fitz…and he changed everything about me. He changed my life, the way I saw life, the way I saw myself—he gave me hope and for the first time in a long time I thought that things were looking up. I thought that things would only get better from there but life just doesn't work like that. In life, when things are going remarkably well, everything comes tumbling down and when you come down from the high…it's the worst thing in the world."

She plays with a string of grass in her hands as she continues, "It started with you, you know. I know I pretty much ignored you and didn't spend that much time with you but that didn't mean that you didn't mean the world to me. When you died, everything fell apart. Things got unimaginably worse. I moved away, Fitz was out of my life…I didn't take care of myself," she says shamefully. "I wanted to do better once you died but you have to realize that circumstances can change a person. They can make you do things you would've never thought of, things that you'd regret…but I'm here today," she says with a soft smile. "And I'm doing much better but I still have a long way to go. Fitz wants us to start over. He wants to be in Danny's life and he wants to give another try at a relationship between us again, but I'm not sure if I'm ready. I believe that he really means what he says, especially with Danny in the picture but I don't trust myself. I just don't want to hurt him again or myself even more in the process. We've both already been through a lot. But I don't necessarily want to be without him either. I still love him, so much…I'm going to see him again for Danny's birthday party. I don't know how we're going to break the news to him but I just hope he takes it well, but I think he will. He's always wanted a father. I guess we'll see, though." She sits there for several more minutes, talking about other things going on with work before she eventually gets up and gathers things. "I have to go pick up Danny but I'll come by again soon. Goodbye for now."

After she clears her head from her visit to the cemetery, Olivia picks up Danny from her dad's. It doesn't take much to cheer her up, though, because just seeing her son again brings a smile to her face.

"How was your trip to New York?" He asks from the backseat of her car as they drive through town.

"It was nice. I got to meet with a lot of my old colleagues, I mean, friends," she says, not sure quite how advanced his vocabulary was.

"I know what a colleague is, mommy," he tells her scrunching his eyebrows together as if he's read her mind.

"Of course, you do, Danny, sorry," she says, trying to hold back a laugh at his seriousness. He hated being underestimated, a lot like Fitz did.

"It's okay. Can we get some ice cream?" He asks excitedly.

She smiles. "Since you've been such a good boy for grandpa, yes, we can."

They stop at the local Baskin-Robbins and get two cones of ice cream, his chocolate and hers strawberry.

"I'm going to go get some napkins," he tells her, sliding out of the booth before she can say anything and running off.

She starts to check some emails on her phone but when she notices that he's been gone too long, she looks back and sees him talking to another boy his age.

She gets up and goes over to them, wondering who the other little boy is. "Hey, what's going on?" She asks Danny.

"This is—"

"Bobby! I told you to wait for me." They all turn to the entrance of the shop and much to Olivia's surprise, Fitz starts coming towards them. He looks taken back when he sees her but a gleam of happiness soon appears in his eyes at the sight of her.

"Hi," he says, stopping next to her.

"Hi," she greets back, smiling back softly at him. She quickly rips her eyes away from his enchanting blue ones and turns back to the boys.

"This is my nephew Bobby," Fitz explains, answering Olivia's mental question about whether or not he really had kids.

"Hi, Bobby," Olivia greets, making the boy smile shyly back at her.

"Um, this is Danny, my son," Olivia introduces nervously. Fitz's gaze falls to Danny and he stares at him with a look of pure admiration, his mouth slightly hanging open before he says, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Danny. My name is…Fitz."

Danny holds out his hand like a gentleman for Fitz to shake and he gently does. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Fitz. Like I was saying, Bobby dropped his ice cream and he seemed really sad, so I was going to give him mine."

"Oh, sweetie, you didn't need to do that," Olivia says, ruffling her son's curly hair.

"Yeah, I actually went to the car to get a little more money for another ice cream for Bobby," Fitz assures him.

"So, Bobby will have some ice cream, too?" Danny asks with a hopeful tone.

Fitz smiles and nods. "Definitely."

Both boys give wide smiles to each other and then whisper something into each other's ears before looking back to the adults. "Can we all have ice cream together?" Danny finally asks.

Fitz looks over to Olivia to make the ultimate choice and she agrees, finding no problem with having a few cones of ice cream with the kids.

Once everyone has what they want, they all take a seat at the both Olivia and Danny were seated at before, with the two boys sitting on one side and Olivia and Fitz on the other. Olivia sits on the side of the wall, with Fitz's large and muscular physique brushing up against her but he seems to have no problem sitting so close to her at all.

"So, I see that you're still a strawberry girl," Fitz says

"And I see that you still love chocolate."

"I never stopped," he says deeply, winking at her as she gets the double meaning.

She chuckles, rolling her eyes but feeling her cheeks heat up as he continues to stare at her. She looks away and takes a bite out of her ice cream. She glances back at him and see him staring at her chin. "What, is there something there?" She asks, rubbing her finger against the area.

He reaches out and brushes her chin but as soon as he removes his hand, she feels something even colder than before. "Really, Fitz?" She asks glaring at him but smiling inside.

"I can't believe you fell for that again," he says, laughing.

"Some people never change," she says with a small laugh, reaching to wipe it away but he beats her to it, wiping the ice cream off with his index finger and licking it up.

"In some ways, no, but in other ways yes. You, for instance, are a thousand times more beautiful than the first time I laid eyes on you," he says smoothly.

She smiles, her heart fluttering out of her chest as she tries to remain cool. "Only a thousand times?" She asks sarcastically with a raised eyebrow.

He laughs. "No, actually. Infinitely beautiful," he whispers into her ear, his lips lightly brushing against her ear.

She lets out a small gasp at this and closes her eyes, feeling herself being drawn into his spell but as soon as she looks across the table and sees the two boys scrunching up their noses at her and Fitz she can't help but laugh at their disgusted faces and Fitz joins her.

"Eww, mommy, you and Fitz are going to get cooties if you don't stop," Danny tells them.

"I'm immune to your mom's cooties," Fitz tells him and then quickly kisses Olivia on the cheek, much to her surprise. "Well, not all of them," he says lowly into her ear.

Olivia bites her lip, wondering how much longer she would be able to take the take-it-slow approach with him.

So, there we have it. So, Olitz is back in Cali, Fitz and Danny have met each other, I gave you a few bits and pieces as to why they broke up in the first place and yes, Fitz, did something with a girl that hurt Liv and someone Liv cared about died, both of which led to their break up and I will fill in the rest of the bits and pieces very soon. So, how do you think Olitz should reveal that Fitz is Danny's father? How do you think he'll take it? How do you think this take-it-slow approach will go/how long it will last? Other thoughts? Thanks for reading!