Happy 4th of July! Be safe, enjoy the fireworks, and enjoy this chapter! :)

Chapter 25: Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

We're going down

And you can see it too

We're going down

And you know that we're doomed

My dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room

—Slow Dancing in a Burning Room by John Mayer

2016

Fitz lay on the hospital bed with Olivia snuggled into him, fast asleep. The nurse had said it was fine for her to sleep as long as he woke her up every hour and asked her a few basic questions to make sure she was doing alright mentally. But even though she answered every single one of his questions correctly, he knew that it would be a long road before her mind was ever in a good place emotionally. He felt bad every time he woke her, because he noticed every time she opened her eyes, there was that one foggy moment where she was completely disoriented. It's similar to when a person wakes up from a dream and for a long second before the brain registers what's going on, it's like time doesn't exist or anything really. It's a single moment of oblivion, almost bliss, where anything could happen and where the troubles of your life don't even cross your mind. But then it's shortly over—and you sit up in bed and sigh as you get a harsh reality check because that one beautiful moment is over and you have to go out into the world and face whatever it throws at you.

Fitz could see Olivia was experiencing this, because after that second of confusion, a look of anguish would quickly take over her face and she would be deposited right back into her version of hell.

But for now, he would just let her rest and take a break from it all.

"Sir, do you need anything, like water?" A nurses asks him as she comes by and puts her hand to Olivia's forehead, checking for a temperature.

He was feeling a little thirsty. "Water would be great. Thanks."

She smiles courteously at him and takes off.

Fitz glances in the opposite direction and his heart skips a beat when he sees Eli heading their way but he doesn't see Fitz because his eyes are cast miserably to the ground. Becca stands up and goes over to him, asking, "How are they?"

Eli sighs. "Both just got out of surgery and now I'm waiting for the anesthesia to wear off. We can see them then. How could this have happened…?"

"It was an accident. There's nothing they could've done to prevent it," Becca reminds him, trying to console him. That's when he looks up and sees Fitz and Olivia curled up together and a look disgust and contempt take over his face.

"Step away from my daughter," he growls.

But Fitz stands his ground and says back evenly, "I'm not going anywhere."

"If you don't step away now, I will call security on your ass," he threatens.

"She's my fiancé. I am not going anywhere."

"Fiancé? Since when?" He exclaims.

"I proposed last night. She said yes," Fitz explains, revealing the ring on Olivia's hand.

Eli lets out a contemptible laugh. "So, you propose to my daughter but you don't even have the guts or the respect for me to ask me for my blessing—oh, but even if you had I would have said no, which is why you didn't ask, isn't that right? You know, I would've respected you more if you had asked anyway, but now I look down on you even more than before because you are a disrespectful coward. You date and propose to my daughter against my wishes, you walk in here, acting like you actually have a place in this family, like you really mean anything to anyone here. Well, you know what? You don't belong here, I don't care how much my daughter claims to be in love with you, you will never be a part of this family. I just lost a son, my son is dead. And instead of showing some decency and respect and leaving this wretched hospital like I asked you to, you are, again, defying my wishes. My son had great things planned for him, he was going to change the world, but now he's on his way to a morgue. It should've been you inside of that car, not him!" Eli says as tears stream ferociously out of his eyes. He stumbles back and nearly falls to the ground before a chair catches him and he fully breaks down.

Becca gives Fitz an apologetic look before closing the curtain to Olivia's space and separating the two couples. Fitz tried to not let Eli's accusations get to him, taking them with a grain of salt. He couldn't imagine how Eli was feeling, having lost his son, but he understood that Eli needed someone to take it out on, and since Fitz wasn't his favorite person in the world and he also happened to be there, he was the prime victim.

He didn't want to leave Olivia but if it would calm Eli down, Fitz could opt to just sit in the waiting room. But as soon as he shifts a little, Olivia mimics his movement, making a little whimpering noise and tightening her clutch on his shirt. "Fitz…"

"It's okay, baby, I'm here," he whispers to her, smoothing down her hair and rubbing her back.

"Don't go, yet," she tells him weakly.

He softly kisses her temple. "I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

She snuggles deeper into him and falls back asleep.

The following weeks after that night grew progressively worse, but Olivia tried her best to just keep a tough skin, shutting her feelings off and playing the part she was supposed to. Fitz did everything he could to help—making sure she ate, helping her with all the tasks she couldn't do with her injuries, giving her alone time when she wanted it, as well as put up with her talking in her sleep and when she would wake up screaming from nightmares. But they were in this eerie coexistence where he tiptoed around her, speaking to her only when necessary and she did the same, neither of them knowing what to say to each other anymore.

The only time they had a conversation that lasted for more than a few seconds was one night about a week after the funeral for Simon. She had been talking to her dad and Becca for the first time in months, and even her real mom, who Olivia was surprised had even shown up at the funeral, considering how she hadn't spoken to Simon in almost a year, but she guessed that she still cared enough to at least see him one last time—that, or maybe she didn't want to seem like an awful mother for not showing up. Either way, she would always be a horrible mother in Olivia's eyes.

So, after going out to eat with the whole family, minus her mother, Olivia decided she wanted to move back in with them but as she packed her bags, she was wondering how to explain it to Fitz. She felt a little bad but she hoped he would understand. It would be better for her to be around her family to help her heal and the constant silence and awkwardness between she and Fitz just reminded her even more of everything that upset her.

"What's going on?" He had asked her that night the second he appeared in the bedroom door with a startled expression, the most emotion he had shown in the past couple of weeks.

"I'm moving back in with my parents," is all she said, avoiding eye contact and continuing to pack.

"Why?" He questioned further, inching into the room.

"Because I think it'd be best for me to be with them right now. To get through this a little easier."

He remained quiet for a few minutes and she resumed packing, feeling his eyes on her. "So, when are you coming back?" He finally asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. When I'm better, I guess."

She closed her last suitcase and reluctantly turned around to face him. She could see the worry and confusion on his face as he struggled to say something more, but if he didn't say anything soon they would've just stood there, staring back at each other silently forever and she wanted to just get out now before she felt any worse. Besides, Becca was waiting for her outside.

She walked up to him and hesitated for a moment before leaning up on her tip toes and giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. She attempted to smile but her mouth hardly moved up a centimeter. She took his hand in hers, a gesture that now seemed so foreign to her because they had hardly touched each other affectionately since the morning they got back from the hospital. "I…I love you," she whispered, still unable to look up at him and she quickly ripped her hand away, suddenly feeling self-conscious. She picked two of her bags up and walked out the door.

She dreaded the thirty-minute car ride she had to take to get to her dad's house, but since driving with Abby and her mom to the funeral it had been getting gradually easier—very gradually. She was putting the bags in the back of the car when she heard footsteps and the sound of two more suitcases being set on the ground. She was nothing less of shocked to see Fitz with the last of her bags. She wondered if he wanted her to leave as much as she did or if he was just trying to help her, but either way, she was surprised that he was just letting her go without a word or any objection.

She stepped aside and let him put the bags in the back for her. He shut the door and she turned to head for the front seat but as she opened the door, he said, "Wait."

She quickly spun around, thinking that he was about to tell her not to go, but instead he walked up to her and put his arms around her, hugging her tightly and pressing his lips to her forehead. She did the same and for a full minute they just stood there, holding each other as she remembered when they would hug each other like this before they hardly knew each other like they do now. During happier times.

They pulled back and she could see him trying to hold it together, much like she was too. She turned away and sat down, not waiting for him to say 'I love you' because he had just communicated that to her and she already knew that well enough. As they drove away, Olivia is thankful that Becca doesn't acknowledge her tears as she stares out the window and absentmindedly twirls her ring around her finger.

2016 – About 3 months later

As Fitz stood in line at his favorite coffee shop on campus, he had a million things running through his mind. The first of being a paper he had just turned in that morning that he knew he had done a shoddy job at, paying his car and electric bill on time, preparing for a job interview on a talk show, and many other small worries that consumed his life—he was also trying to get Olivia to call him back. She had called him a couple weeks back, out of the blue after radio silence for a month, about getting a few more of her things that she had left. He had been disappointed, thinking that at first she was calling to move back in, but he hadn't voiced his discontentment. They had agreed on a date and time that she would come but she flaked on him and hasn't answered his calls or texts since. He was worried at first but he's been in touch with Abby who said she was okay—as in she wasn't injured or dying, but Abby had notified him that Olivia was still struggling mentally. After the first few weeks of school started again, she stopped showing up as well as abandoning her therapy appointments, she refuses to see anyone unless she suddenly feels like it, and she hardly leaves her room other than to eat, urinate, or shower. Abby had told him of many other shenanigans, Olivia had pulled, including almost getting arrested for stealing a Happy Meal at McDonald's, but Fitz could barely believe any of it. This wasn't the Livvie that he knew. He had hoped letting her go stay with her family for a little bit would help because he didn't know how to help her, but it seems she had only deteriorated.

He knew that she didn't want to see him and her father most definitely didn't want to, but she was his fiancé, and seeing her fade away like this was slowly killing him inside. He didn't know what to do.

He distractedly swings his arm backwards and accidentally hits the person behind him. He hears something fall to the ground and curses himself when he turns around and realizes it's a phone. "Shoot, I'm sorry," Fitz says, bending down and reaching for the phone, hoping it wasn't cracked.

"I'm so sorry. Sometimes I can be such a clumsy dumbass," he jokes, handing the phone to its owner who smiles back at him and says, "It's totally fine."

He can't help but stare back at her because she reminded him so much of Olivia, with her soft-looking silky hair, her mocha skin, her tiny frame, her somewhat pouty lips, and she even wore the same cool, cocky smile that he missed in Olivia. She wasn't quite as attractive and her eyes didn't captivate him the same way Olivia's did, but the similarities were there.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" She asks, tilting her head at him.

"Uh…it's nothing. You just look like someone I know."

She grins. "Hmm…who is she? Your girlfriend?"

Fitz chuckles. "Well, yeah, my fiancé, actually."

She smiles brightly. "Oh, wow, that's nice. Congrats. So, what do you study?" She asks as the line moves up.

"I'm trying to get my master's in English. I want to go into journalism."

"Wow, journalism, like on the nightly news? I can see your handsome face doing that," she says flirting shamelessly at him.

He lets out a short laugh, thinking she was just making fun. She leans in a little closer to him, not to the point where it's uncomfortable but just enough that he gets a whiff of her perfume. He has to admit she smells good. "So, what about you?"

"I'm a law student. Not my ideal choice but, you know, parents will be parents and make you do things you don't want to do."

He gives her a sympathetic look as the line moves up again and it's now Fitz's turn to order. As he tells the worker behind the counter what he wants, he can't help but feel like the woman behind him was staring him down, studying every inch of him from behind. He gets a bit of relief when he moves aside to wait for his order, though before she steps into his former spot, he could almost swear that she winked at him but he decides to brush off the notion.

As he looks through his email on his phone, his attention is soon taken up by this woman again as she curses herself for not being able to find another dollar in her purse to pay for her order. Fitz wondered if he should just ignore her and wait for her to figure it out on her own, but being the Good Samaritan he was, before he knew it, he was whipping out an extra dollar from his pocket and handing it to the cashier.

"My knight in shining armor. You totally saved my ass. I could've gotten more money from an atm or my car and come back but then I would've been late for my lecture and God knows I have to have my coffee for lecture."

He smiles and nods. "I hear you. My junior of undergrad, I fell asleep during a lecture and my professor, who I can almost bet was senile, singled me out in a class of a hundred and smacked me with a ruler on the arm. It didn't help that I was sitting towards the front but that ruler still hurt like hell."

She giggles, a sound that he didn't expect out of her—much like he hadn't with Olivia at first glance, but it quickly became one of his most favorite sounds in the world. This woman's was more generic.

Fitz's order is called, prompting the woman to tell him. "Thanks for the laugh and for the dollar. I have to find some way to pay you back," she says, with an edge to her voice as she lightly touches his arm.

"It's fine, honestly. Just remember to bring enough next time," he tells her, starting to inch away.

"I will. My name's Olive, by the way."

He stops in his tracks, astounded by the coincidences. "Olive?"

"Yeah…what's up now?"

First the physical and personality similarities and now almost the same name? He quickly shakes his head. "Nothing. I'm Fitz. Short for Fitzgerald but, yeah, I go by Fitz. It was nice talking to you," he tells her, reaching to shake her hand.

She takes it, with a bit of awkward hesitation as if she expected a different gesture. "It was great to meet you, too, but if you don't mind, I think I'll call you Fitzgerald—it sounds sexier."

He raises his eyebrows at this, making her laugh loudly. She places her hand on his arm again in a comforting manner. "Calm down, I was kidding. Don't tell the future wifey I said that." She winks at him again, grabs her coffee and pastry, and heads out the door with a little sashay in her step.

Fitz takes his food and drink and sits at a table in the shop, having a little time to kill. He tries to finish reading his emails but he can't shake the feeling that his interaction with Olive had been a little off and somewhat just wrong. He hadn't really done anything, though, she had been the one who flirted with him, and it had been in a teasing manner, too, so she didn't really mean any of it. But as Fitz continues to think about it, he imagines how Olivia would've reacted if she had been there. She would've been pissed with the excessive arm-touching, giggling, and suggestive comments. And now that he thinks about it, if the roles were reversed, and some random guy had flirted with Olivia like that, Fitz would have flipped out, too. Hopefully he wouldn't have to see her again. It was a fairly big university, he didn't come to this coffee shop everyday and even if he did run into her again, he would just walk away.

But it was all easier said than done because not even a month later, they ended up working on the same project for their professors who had teamed up for some kind of research and he began to have to see her at least twice a week. He resented it at first because, though she never made a real move on him, the shameless flirting almost never stopped and Fitz felt guilty every time they talked, but after a while he let go off the guilt, justifying their friendship with the fact that in missing Olivia, a void had been left in his life, and since they were so similar in some ways, Olive was beginning to refill it. Even though she had seen pictures of Olivia around the apartment, she had managed to pick up on the fact that Olivia was never around and by the end of November, he and Olive were spending a considerable amount of time with each other almost everyday, which included them hanging out and working at his apartment.

One night they were on their way back to the apartment after celebrating the two-month project that had turned out to be a success at a bar. Fitz was buzzed but he was still okay enough to drive. Olive asked to come home with him, explaining that her roommate was always too noisy on late weekend nights and wanted some peace and quiet. So, Fitz said it was cool, though, had he been sober, he would've known it was a bad idea, but he was feeling a little lonely and didn't want to go back home alone to his empty, sad apartment.

Once they arrived, Fitz collapsed on the couch and switched on some TV, feeling like watching the re-runs of 90s shows they played late at night. But instead of sitting down with him, Olive decided to take the liberty of going to the kitchen and finding more alcohol, specifically a fine wine that Fitz and Olivia had planned to drink the night he proposed to her, but they feel asleep and they never really got their chance to enjoy it with the accident happening the very next day.

He smiles as he remembers the night he proposed—they had made sweet, hot love for hours and he had never felt closer to her before. He remembers them being one soul and one body for those long, beautiful moments when everything in the world felt right and even if things never worked out perfectly, in that moment of time, he had everything he could've ever hoped and dreamed for. She was his everything. But now that was all gone.

He glances up and his gaze falls upon a jacket on the coffee table—Olivia's jacket. Some of her stuff was still littered all throughout the apartment, but he didn't remember seeing that jacket in this spot. He shrugs it off as Olive plops down next to him and hands him his glass.

"Oh, my gosh, this wine is the best thing I've ever tasted in my life. I've been eyeing it since I came here the first time and I'm wondering how couldn't have tried it sooner?"

"I was going to. I was supposed to have it to celebrate the best day of my life, but it doesn't matter anymore." He lifts up his glass and clinks it with hers. "What matters is the here and now, and the kickass job we did on that project."

"Hell yeah!" She exclaims, laughing for no reason.

A bottle later, the two of them are cracking up at Steve Urkel on a re-run of Family Matters, more than either of them would've laughed if their systems weren't flooded with alcohol. He didn't know when it happened but Olive had her arms wrapped his torso and her head resting calmly on his chest, much like Olivia used to, and he soon found himself snuggling back into her.

After a while, he hears her ask, "Fitz, can I ask you something?"

"Like what?"

"Like…when was the last time you had sex?" She asks softly and then giggles.

He chuckles, starting to play with her hair. So soft and silky. "What kind of question is that?"

"I don't know. It's just a question," she says innocently, looking up at him.

"Uh, it's been a while…I'm not sure," he says, even though he vividly remembered the last time. He rubs his eyes and starts to say, "Why does it mat—"

In a split second, her lips are on his, kissing him deeply. The pure shock makes him freeze and only when the tip of her tongue pokes out at his mouth, asking for access, does he pull back.

"Wait, wait, Olive…what are you doing? I can't…"

"She doesn't have to know," she whispers sensually back to him. "She's never here. And it's just tonight. I know you want to. Fuck me, Fitz."

He feels a stirring in his pants and lets out a low growl filled with both frustration and desire. "I…"

She moves onto his lap and straddles his waist before he can object, not that she would've listened. She scoots in closer to him until there's no more space in between and the only thing keeping him from being inside her are their clothes. She reaches down and places her hand on his member and squeezes softly through his pants. "I can feel how much you want me. And I'm telling you I want you to eff me until I'm screaming your name and I can't feel my legs. Do it, Fitz."

Her hair, her full, beautiful lips, and even her voice reminded him of Olivia, and as he grazes her skin, if he just closed his eyes, he could imagine that it was her instead. All he had to do was close his eyes.

He suddenly grabs the back of Olive's thighs and presses his lips to hers, forcing his way into her mouth and kissing her ferociously. He feels her undo his pants and he rushes to he take off both his and her shirt, then slams her down onto the couch, continuing to kiss her fiercely. It's as if his sexual starvation had made him rougher, like he couldn't get enough fast enough. He disconnects their lips and groans, "Oh, Livvie!"

She smiles back up at him. "'Livvie'…I like it," she says, before reconnecting them.

He caresses her neck down to her breasts, loving the way she reacts to him as she moans and arches her back, but as he starts to unclip her bra, he could almost swear he heard his name. He pushes this notion away, thinking he was imagining it, but when it comes again, he can't deny that he's hearing it for real.

He stops and sits up, turning towards the direction of the voice and what he sees makes his heart stop.

Standing just fifteen feet away is Olivia, staring back at him with shock and unbelief in her eyes.

"Livvie…" he starts to say, reaching out towards her as he quickly rises from the couch. Olive sits up and gasps the moment she sees Olivia.

Fitz starts walking towards Olivia but almost trips over his pants, which are still hanging around his ankles. He kicks them off, embarrassed and ashamed to have her see him this way, but he knows he deserves every bit of shame he felt.

She holds a hand out towards him and backs away as he comes towards her, exchanging a look of contempt and disgust between Fitz and Olive.

"Liv, what are you…what are you doing here?" He asks.

She looks away and says quietly, "I came here to…to talk—but I fell asleep waiting for you to get back."

She sighs and shakes her head. "I need to go." She quickly heads for the door.

"Olivia, wait!" He chases after her but stops when he sees her running, actually running, away from him.

He stops at the door, looking towards the direction she went until she was no longer visible and after minutes of just standing there, soaking in the enormity of what he's just done, he starts to furiously bang his fist against the door frame. He doesn't know how many times he does this before he feels Olive grab his arm and tell him, "Fitz, stop before you seriously injure your hand."

He yanks his hand back and barks, "Get out now!"

She shrinks back and nods timidly, all that confidence and lustfulness now gone. She hurriedly puts her shirt and shoes back on, grabs her purse, and hightails it out of his apartment.

He shuts the door and lets out a whirlwind of obscenities, plopping down on the floor and crying his eyes out as he says over and over, "What did I just do? What did I just do?" How could he have let this happen? The look on her face destroyed him. He had allowed himself to be vulnerable and let down his guard for one moment and he blew it. After a while he can't help but bitterly laugh at how coincidental this all was. The night he gets drunk and lets Olive come over also happens to be the same night Olivia, who hasn't bothered to see him in months, decides to come over. She said she wanted to talk. Maybe if he had just dropped Olive off at her house and come home and gone straight to bed, he would've found Olivia in the bedroom and they would've talked and made up and things would've eventually gone back to normal. But he made the wrong choice—and he wasn't sure how they would get back from this.

A few days later, Olivia texts Fitz to tell him she was coming by to get the rest of her stuff. He knew that this would be his best chance at convincing her to take him back, so he stayed up the whole night, practicing everything he would say, but all his arguments went to crap the moment she actually stepped into the apartment and was there with him in person, wearing that same angry, mortified expression.

He doesn't know what to say or where to start with his apologies because he knows they won't help and that she doesn't want to hear how sorry he is. None of it will erase or fix what he's done. So he watches silently from a distance as she gathers the last of her things and packs them into her car. At least she was driving again.

On her last trip to her car, he assumes she's going to just get into the driver's seat and take off without a goodbye or another look at him, so he's surprised when she marches back into the house and just pauses, taking a long, hard look at him.

The silence between them is deafening and Fitz wants to look and shrink away from her penetrating gaze so that he doesn't feel so much shame, but he can't and he knows that he has to put up with every horrible feeling he has at the moment.

After what feels like hours, Olivia asks in an even tone, "How long?"

"What?"

"How long have you been screwing her?" She clarifies with a raised voice.

"I haven't screwed her. I never did—"

"But you would've. If I hadn't been here, you would've done it, you stupid son of a bitch…" she fades off.

Fitz shakes his head, but deep down he doesn't know. He had been so caught up in the moment at the time he wasn't sure he would've stopped. "Livvie, I'm so sorry…"

"Don't say anything!"

But he keeps rambling on anxiously. "I didn't mean it, I was drunk, I missed you so much, she was there and she looked so similar to you."

"Just because some bitch looks like me and you were drunk doesn't make it okay," she says with growing ferocity in her voice.

"I know, I—I'm sorry," he says.

"I can't believe you cheated on me," she says softly, more to herself than to him, still in shock.

"Livvie, I'm so so sorry. Please…" he says, inching towards her but she takes a step back with everyone he takes forward until he stops. He takes a breath and then says, "But you have to understand. I know that what I did is inexcusable but you and I have hardly spoken or seen each other in six months. I was lonely, you left me, she was there, and I made a mistake. I didn't have sex with her and even if I had, you're still the one that I love and will always love. What I did was a heat of the moment thing. Please forgive me."

She stares back at him quietly and for a moment, he thinks that she's considering taking him back when she abruptly says, "I'm moving to Boston. In two weeks. I'm starting an internship at this food company so I have to move there. I'm not even sure why they gave it to me but the pay isn't bad and it'll be good for me to try something new, to be somewhere new. I'm leaving."

He gapes at her, still trying to digest her words. Boston? "That's far."

She nods. "I know."

"Why there?"

She shrugs. "I applied for the internship and they gave it to me. They've been persistent…and I think it's a good opportunity."

"I could come with you…" he whispers, looking up at her hopefully, but knowing the suggestion was asinine.

She shakes her head forcefully. "No, I don't want you to come."

"So, you're just going to leave me? You're going to fly all the way to the other side of the country and live there permanently?"

She bites her lip and nods. "Yes. We don't work anymore, Fitz. We both need to move on."

"Liv, what I did was a mistake. A stupid, idiotic, drunken mistake. I didn't mean it."

"Stop saying that!" She snaps. "It wasn't a mistake. It was a choice. You know, I never cheated on you or even thought of being with anyone else even once. I loved you with everything in me, but you couldn't do the same, especially when I was going through the worst time of my life. And don't say that you didn't mean it because it meant something. You didn't love me enough to not cheat and…" she pauses, quickly wiping a tear running down her cheek. "We have to move on. I need to, at least. I need to start fresh, I need a new town to leave this all behind. I can't do this anymore."

"You can't just leave me! I do need you, Liv! I love you!" He cries out to her, his voice growing shaky.

"But I need a break! These last few months have been hell for me and everything about this place reminds me of that accident that changed everything , including you. I can't stay here or else I'm going to lose my mind! And I can't take you, I can't be around you, especially after this."

"I know I screwed up but if you just give me another chance, I'll make this right. I promise. Please!"

She shakes her head. "No, you can't…you should take this back," she tells him sullenly, digging inside her pocket and taking out the engagement ring.

"No—no, no, no, no. Don't do that. Please don't," he says, his voice breaking.

She sets it down on the counter. "Goodbye, Fitz."

"Please, baby, don't leave me! I'm so sorry. I'll never do it again! I can't do this without you! Please!" He begs, nearly falling to his knees.

She turns around and faces him. "Yes, you can. You don't need me. I'm a hot mess, I'm not good for you. You're not good for me. I ignored you for months, you didn't bother to come see me for months, and if you think anything will ever be the same again, you're lying to yourself. This can't be fixed. This is the way it has to be."

"But…but I love you," he says, his voice shrinking and the look in his eyes resembling that of a little boy begging his parents not to leave him with a babysitter, but in this case, Olivia had no intentions of returning at the end of the night. She's tempted to relent for a moment at his devastating expression but she quickly rips her eyes away from his, knowing she has to leave now. She turns on her heel and strides out the door.

Present – 2026

Fitz walks up to Olivia's door, their conversation from a decade ago playing over and over in his head, but it wasn't the conversation itself and what had been said that haunted him, it's what happened afterwards that stumped him.

He never spoke to her again until the convention in New York. He wanted to and he tried but he never actually came into contact with her because he had been too much of a coward—or maybe he just didn't care enough. He never fought for her. After the accident, he didn't even ask her to stay with him, he blamed not visiting her on not wanting to upset her father, but if he really wanted to he could've. And most of all, he had let her go for good when she broke off the engagement and moved to Boston, which is when he should have fought tooth and nail. He thought he was giving her space but in reality that was just an excuse, and the longer he did nothing, the more afraid he became to try and fix anything. But this time he wasn't going to back down.

He had let her go too many times and he was done 'giving her her space'. He didn't know what was exactly wrong but they were going to figure it out together. He wasn't going away this time and he wouldn't let her run away from him again. Not only was their child now in the picture but Fitz wouldn't be able to handle another heartbreak. This time he was pushing back.