AN: Finally chapter 15, command is gone and you get to find out what happened with Jerry, Olivia and Fitz... I hope you guys enjoy :)
Olivia heard the shot but instead of feeling a bullet ending her life she felt a strong force pushing her out of the way, as she was hitting the ground the heard another shot, then another, she counted five in the end. Everything was happening really fast, she couldn't understand what had just happened, it couldn't be Huck, he had been shot, in matter of seconds she turned her head and saw them, secret service agents.
"Falcon is down, I repeat, Falcon is down" she heard one of them say
She scrambled to get up and desperately turned around, he was there lying on the ground bleeding, from the shot that was meant for her. The agents were huddling around him, they were putting a makeshift bandage on his side to slow the bleeding, Fitz was still conscious trying to cooperate with them helping him.
Olivia was trying to get up but she struggled, everything was spinning around her, she didn't even register Jerry trying to get up next to her. A few agents approached them and helped them up, she heard one of them saying they were securing Athena and Thunderbolt. She tried to move towards Fitz, but she realized the agent was holding onto her tight. The agents with Fitz had gone into some strange formation to pick him up and carry him like a human gurney.
"Is the helicopter in place?" one of the agents asked
"Yeah, it managed to land on this road" another answered
"We just have to get him there ASAP, we got people securing the hospital already" a third one said
Olivia was still trying to get to him, she was desperate and scared and her brain couldn't process what was happening, she wanted to follow Fitz detail, but the agent that was with her wouldn't let her do it.
"No let me go, I have to go with him" she screamed at the agent who had her, simultaneously another agent was taking Jerry "Dad, no, what are you doing let me go" Jerry screamed at him.
"Ma'am please, I need you to calm down, we are taking care of the president, and I have orders to keep you and him safe, you have to come with me, we'll be right behind him" He tried to reason with her. His words started bringing her out of her shock so she grabbed Jerry's hand and started walking with the agents. They were lead to an SUV and she saw the agents closing the door of a helicopter. As soon as it started moving so did they, she was quiet trying to wrap her head around what had happened in the past minutes, she still felt like everything was spinning out of control and couldn't manage to form coherent thought; that was until a loud sob from Jerry snapped her back to reality. In that moment she realized she had to be there for him, he was crying uncontrollably, he really needed her to get herself together.
"Jerry, I need you to breath ok, everything will be ok" She put an arm around his shoulders and stroked his face with her other hand. He put his head on her shoulder and just kept crying, she adjusted herself to hold him tightly and his sobs began to subside.
"I am right here ok, everything will be ok"
"I can't loose him Liv" he finally said.
"Your dad is a strong man, he got through the last time and it was much worse, he was still awake when they took him, he will be just fine" She was trying to convince herself as much as him.
They rode the rest of the way in silence, it wasn't long before they reached the hospital, the agents got them in through a staff entrance out of precaution. A whole wing of the hospital had already been cleared and only a few doctors and nurses knew who was the VIP patient, the rest had just been asked to stay away.
Hal was the lead agent whenever Tom was unavailable so he was handling the situation, his number two at the moment was an agent named Lucas, and both of them had been instructed by Fitz to ask Huck for advice before doing anything concerning his or Olivia's safety. Lucas had been the one to get the hospital prepared since he had gone with Huck when they took him to there, Hal had been the one who stayed with Fitz, and he could barely even handle the guilt of allowing the president to get shot.
Hal and Lucas had handled everything to keep the incident away from the media for as long as possible, no one in DC knew what had happened yet and Jerry was something neither of them were even able to understand. Huck was arguing with the doctors telling them he had to be released immediately, and that he was fine, upon determining he only had some nasty bruises and a hairline fracture on one rib, he was given a prescription for pain meds and finally discharged. Huck told the agent that was assigned to him to take him to see Olivia, on the way there he got his phone out and called Abby.
"Abby" she heard his voice and and felt a mixture of relief and utter fear.
"What happened? are you guys ok? did you escape? do you need help?" she ranted
"It's a long story, I was shot, the President was shot-" he was interrupted by Abby
"What?"
"Please let me finish, I was wearing a vest but he wasn't , the doctors are checking him now, Olivia is fine and Rowan is dead" He finally got out. The line was quiet for a moment.
"Ok… what do you need me to do?" she knew she had to put her emotions aside and make sure all hell didn't break loose in DC.
"Cyrus, you handle him, I'm thinking he has no idea about what Fitz did in the past few hours, and…" Huck hesitated, he wasn't sure about revealing the truth about Jerry yet, but he knew they couldn't just keep hiding it, people at the hospital would see him and they needed to start planning ASAP about how they would break the news to the country.
"What is it Huck?" Abby inquired.
"This is very serious" he started
"More serious than the President being shot" she interrupted as always
"Yes… we faked Jerry Grant's death" He waited as the line went quiet again, he was almost with Olivia and he wanted to get that over with at the moment so he could help her. "Abby I need to go" he tried to get her attention.
"Yeah, so… ok, I'll just…hmm yeah I got this, I think, I'll call you later" She was barely able to speak.
"Ok then, bye" Huck hung up the phone and started walking faster Olivia was sitting on a waiting room consoling a very distressed Jerry.
"Liv it's my fault, if I hadn't gone outside your father wouldn't have found us and my dad wouldn't be here right now" He said between sobs
"It's not your fault, my father was a very evil and also very resourceful man, the only reason he went after me was because that idiot Jake couldn't keep the cover story up" Hal had told her the few bits of information on how Fitz got there that he knew.
"Hey Liv" Olivia nearly jumped when she heard Huck's voice, she had been told he was fine but she was quite relieved to see it herself.
"Huck, you are ok" she told him
"Yeah, I was wearing a vest…" he paused for a moment "I'm sorry" Both Jerry and Olivia turned to look at him completely confused by his statement, neither could think of anything he needed to be sorry about.
"Why?" Olivia asked him
"I should have been more careful, I should've checked with DC before" Huck truly felt guilty, even if they didn't think he should. Before Olivia could answer him, Jerry spoke up.
"Hey man, don't say that ok, you did like so much for me and Liv already, like I'm alive because of you, so really I should be thanking you… so hmm thanks" Olivia felt a wave of pride seeing Jerry acting that way, then she chastised herself remembering she was not his mother and maybe never would be. Jerry got up from his chair and wrapped his arms around Huck, he just stood still not knowing how to react, the whole situation made Jerry very emotional, which gave him the urge to hug people.
Jerry took the hint that Huck was very uncomfortable so he stepped back and sat again on his chair. Huck looked at his feet for a while, still unsure of what to do, he figured Olivia would tell him the same if he insisted on it being his fault so he decided to drop it for the moment. H cleared his throat.
"Have you heard from the doctor?" he finally spoke again.
"Not yet, but we haven't been here long" he replied
"Where is Hal?" Huck saw many agents standing guard, but found it weird that Hal, the lead agent, wasn't there, he was pretty sure Fitz had made Olivia and his son first priority after he located them.
"I sent him to see if he could find the non-disclosure agreements that are always kept in the vehicles the president uses, I hope they still do that, we are going to need quite a few" she explained
"Yeah, specially with me hanging around" Jerry added.
Huck decided to sit next to them while they waited for the doctor, after a few more minutes of excruciating wait, they saw the a doctor coming their way, the three of them stood up. He had been told by Hal when Fitz got there that he had to report to Miss Pope once he had news; he found it odd since as far as he knew she didn't work for him anymore, but he figured was only a doctor who had no idea how Washington worked. However when he was finally standing before them he nearly fainted, he saw Jerry and thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
"Hello, hmm is that… are you.. what is going on?" he had trouble forming a sentence. Just on time Hal got there with the papers.
"Hey doc, I will need you to sign this" he handed the doctor the non-disclosure agreement and he signed it right away.
"Doctor…" Olivia paused waiting for him to fill in.
"Oh, I'm sorry, it's Doctor Evans, Richard Evans" He put his hand out to shake hers.
"Well Doctor Evans, this is Jerry Grant, it's a very long story, a matter of national security I am not at liberty to discuss, but we are very, very concerned about President Grant's health so could you please tell us how he is" She had gone into fixer mode.
"Right, sorry, The President is going to be just fine, the bullet didn't really go in, it was just a graze, no internal organs were damaged, it was closer to being like a flesh wound" He explained.
"But…" Olivia knew there was more to it. The doctor was feeling quite intimidated by her and with all that was going on he was acting like a first year intern.
"There was slight bone damage, the bullet went right over his ribs, so it hit three of them, our best orthopedic surgeon is on it, it's just a few small fractures, but nothing mayor." he paused for a moment, but Olivia was quiet so he took his cue to finish. "It won't be an easy recovery because after all it was a bullet, there will be pain and swelling, but I will give him a prescription for that and he just needs to take it easy for a bit, but I'm guessing you all knew that already" he kicked himself mentally remembering President Grant had been shot before.
"Well we figured, so he's going to be ok?" she just really needed reassurance.
"Yes, he will, actually you will be able to move him soon, I'm guessing you guys would rather have him back in DC" the doctor told Olivia.
"That you are right doc, it's probably for the best" Olivia said to him.
"I better go back there and see how everything is coming along, I will come back after he is placed on a room and ready for visitors" The doctor was about to walk away, when Olivia suddenly realized something she had to discuss with Dr. Evans.
"Doctor" He turned around when he heard her and walked back to her
"I may not be able to discuss much about Jerry with you, but there is something you need to know, President Grant didn't know his son was alive until right before he got shot, so I would like you to be there when Jerry goes in to see his dad, just in case he gets too altered, we don't want anything jeopardizing his recovery" Olivia explained to him. Dr. Evans was a bit shocked to hear that, but a part of him thought that made sense, after he saw Jerry he didn't know what to think, he had never pictured President Grant as the kind of guy who would fake going through such a tragedy and get the whole country to grieve with him. He was very curious to know what happened, but he figured he would get an explanation when the rest of the country did.
After a couple of hours of waiting around and getting a bunch of people to sign the non-disclosure agreements, the doctor came back. He told them Fitz was doing well and that he was in a room already so he could have visitors. Hal told Lucas to stay coordinating the agents while he went with Olivia and Jerry to see Fitz. Huck also went with them. They were all still pretty worried since they were still waiting to hear that all of commands people we're in custody. The special forces team Fitz had requested had spent the morning going through the airport and then the whole town to make sure none of the bad guys had managed to escape.
They got to the door and both of them hesitated to go in, Dr. Evans opened the door for them and let them in. Fitz was sleeping.
"He will be awake in a little while, once the meds wear off" he explained to them. Jerry chuckled.
"I hope he takes things better than I did" he whispered to Olivia, she stifled a laugh.
"Did you say something?" Dr. Evans asked both of them.
"Oh nothing, I was just saying that I hope he wakes up soon" Jerry told him trying not to laugh.
"Well Miss Pope, I have a nurse on POTUS duty, so just have her page me when he wakes up" Olivia smiled at him and thanked him.
It was a quite large room, there was a recliner next to the bed and sofa on the other side, there was also a small table and two chairs. Jerry and Olivia decided to take the chairs and just try to pass the time while he woke up. They decided to keep the conversation light considering all that had happened, hey weren't really in the mood to discuss how everything was going to work out once they finally went back to DC. After about 20 minutes Fitz began to wake up, he was hearing voices and his brain was having a hard time coming back to reality, then he finally recognized them. it was his son and the love of his life chatting like it was the most normal thing in the world, it was something he never thought he would hear.
"I'm glad I can finally get a haircut, you know, since I don't need to be undercover anymore" jerry said almost laughing.
"Undercover, seriously, you never even went out and the one time you did, you were recognized" Olivia told him.
"Ok fine, you are right, but still I need a haircut, I already needed one before all this, I don't think this overgrown mess suits me too well" He said pointing at his head.
"I think you look good either way" Olivia replied.
"Yeah, you are kind of supposed to say that, I'll just ask Karen, you can always count on a sibling to tell you how bad you look even when you don't." Olivia just laughed at his words.
At first he thought he was dreaming, but as the fog on his brain started to go away, all the events from the last few hours came back to him. He stayed quiet for a little while longer, the sedative had really done a number on him and he was still trying to form a coherent thought, he cleared his throat and the conversation immediately stopped. He opened his eyes, the back of the bed was raised so he was almost in a sitting position, so he could see them across the room sitting next to each other and his heart skipped a beat. It was Jerry who broke the silence.
"Dad!" He almost screamed. Then he jumped from the chair and got close to the bed. Fitz was so focused on Jerry that he didn't notice Olivia leaving the room, she went to get the doctor. Jerry walked to the bed and stood next to it, he wanted to hug his dad but he was afraid of hurting him so he just grabbed his right hand.
"Oh my god" he finally got out, he let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding, he pulled Jerry down to hug him and started crying. He muttered how he couldn't believe it and more oh my gods between sobs. Jerry couldn't help himself from crying too. Fitz could feel the pain from the effort he was making, and also because he had Jerry's weight on him, but he didn't care, all he cared about was that his son was alive and he could hold him, something he thought he would never be able to do again.
The doctor came in, the machines were beeping to inform him that Fitz' blood pressure was going up, he told a nurse to go get a sedative, and Fitz heard it.
"Please, don't knock me out I don't want to miss this… I can't" he pleaded as he looked up, his breathing was ragged.
"Sir, we need you to calm down, you could start bleeding and make your recovery a lot harder" The doctor tried to explain.
"Dad, please calm down so they don't have to give you anything ok, I'm not going anywhere I'm right here" Jerry had tried to get up realizing he was probably hurting him, but Fitz' hold was tight. "Also I'm pretty sure this isn't such a good idea considering what happened, how about I just pull up a chair and sit right next to you, and you can totally hold my hand" Jerry tried to move away again and Fitz actually loosened his hold. Hid blood pressure was coming back to normal and he just nodded to his son. Jerry moved one of the chairs and took Fitz' hand as he took a sit, Fitz couldn't stop staring at him like he might disappear any moment, Jerry was waiting for him to say something. The doctor had already left the room, align with Olivia, to give them some privacy.
"What happened?" Fitz finally said, his voice breaking, full of pain.
"Dad… it's kind of a long and very complicated story, how about we just talk about unimportant stuff and enjoy the moment" he suggested. Fitz smiled and nodded.
"You start" he told Jerry, he paused for a moment trying to come up with something.
"You know the show modern family" Fitz nodded "Well, we spent a lot of time watching it, and you know it's pretty good, even reminded me of us a little" he laughed "With the whole divorced guy, two older kids, a baby and a totally out of his league new girl" he laughed some more "I know it's not that close, but still". Fitz stared at his son in awe, he felt like when he was a baby and every single thing he did amazed him. Jerry was trying really hard to ease the tension, to just hang out with his dad and forget the epic mess they were in. They just stayed there talking about silly stuff until Fitz got tired and started to doze off.
After Olivia left the room she was pulled aside by Huck telling her Abby needed help with Cyrus, that the old guy was being an ass and that her help would be much appreciated with handling what was coming in DC. She asked Huck to get Abby on the phone for her, she answered on the first ring.
"Olivia I don't know what the hell happened so there isn't much I can do and Cyrus is about to have another heart attack" Abby talked faster than usual.
"Put him on" She knew Cyrus had to be right there, harassing Abby.
"Olivia, would you mind explaining me what is this nonsense Red is talking about, Jerry alive, Fitz shot, what the fuck happened" he yelled the last part.
"Cyrus, please stop harassing Abby, and use her name, all this is not her fault and she had no idea, and before you start yelling again just remember that I can't really talk if you interrupt me" he was quiet so she figured he had got the point. "We found about the plan to murder Jerry a few days before so we decided to fake his death to put my father at ease so you guys could bring him down without much trouble, but it seems trouble found all of us anyway, some things went wrong and Fitz did get shot but it was basically a flesh wound and he will be just fine" Olivia explained to Cyrus, she waited for a moment for him to start yelling again.
"What do you mean we, who is we, what the hell did you do?" as if on cue Cyrus yelled again.
"Me, my friend Huck and Tom, I can't really explain all of this to you on the phone so you'll just have to wait until we get to DC, so you better start making arrangements to make a statement before this leaks and prepare a room in the White House for him to finish his recovery there, I also need you to make the necessary arrangements for him to be transferred, call me when you have it handled, and I'll make sure everything runs smoothly here" With that, she hing up the phone and gave it back to Huck. She was exhausted, and being Gladiator Olivia after the morning she had and with the love of her life in a hospital bed, was not an easy task.
After Fitz dozed off, Jerry waited a little while before he moved, he was getting hungry, but he didn't want his dad to get upset if he left his side. He found a small pad and a pen in the table and he wrote down "dad please don't panic, I only went to get food" then he placed the note on Fitz' chest. He walked out of the room and he went to the waiting room where Liv was.
"Hey guys" he greeted them
"Hey, is your dad ok?" she voiced full of concern
"Yeah, he's fine, he just fell asleep, and well since things are good now, my appetite is back so I was wondering if one of this guys could go get me something" he said pointing to the agents "I would go, but people can't see me, cause you know I'm supposed to be dead"
Olivia let out a chuckle, it was incredible for her to see how that kid could make joke out of almost anything, she found it refreshing, with all the stuff going on around them.
"I can go" Huck spoke up, he was desperate to have something to do, he still felt awkward around Jerry. "What would you like"
"Thanks man, hmm, I guess I just want food, whatever you find, maybe something unhealthy" Jerry told him.
"Ok, I'll se what I can find" Huck got up and left.
"I think I'll go back to the room, would you like to come with me?" Jerry felt like his dad really needed to have a moment with her.
"Maybe later, I need to handle some things for Cyrus and make sure everything is ready for when your dad is cleared to be moved" she lied, she didn't feel ready to face him yet, she was scared and thought it was best for him to just be his son for a while.
"Sure, I'll see you later" Jerry knew something wasn't right, but decided not to push it.
It didn't take long for Huck to come back with the food, he had gotten a sandwich and tea for Olivia and breakfast burritos with juice for himself and Jerry. Olivia told him Jerry had gone back to the room so he left his food and hers and went to give Jerry his. He knocked softly on the door and Jerry opened it.
"I got you a breakfast burrito and orange juice" he stated
"Thanks, I love Burritos" he took the food from Huck and went to put it on the table, Huck was about to leave, but Fitz called him and he stopped.
"Huck, I know there is much I don't know, but what did you plan with Tom? what task did you gave him? how did he end up shot and running from command with all that information on his hands?" Fitz was truly confused about that, he didn't give it a second thought at the moment, things happened too fast, but now he realized something was going on.
"I…" Huck hesitated, he had no idea how to explain to Fitz that he hid the information on Tom and worked behind his back.
"Huck, how about I break the news to him, and then you explain the parts I don't know, like what happened in DC" Jerry thought it was better for him to do it, his dad couldn't get mad at him he thought it would soften the blow.
"That sounds ok, I will come back later" he left before Fitz even had a say in the matter.
"Dad, I need you to stay calm, this is going to tough to hear" Jerry started with that and then proceeded to tell Fitz everything, all that Olivia had told him, about Tom, her dad, how they faked his death, the whole thing they planned to keep them all safe and save his life.
Fitz was shocked to say the least, he couldn't believe Tom had been betraying him the whole time, he had relied on that man with everything concerning Olivia, he even considered him a friend, he trusted the guy, he thought he was on his side, and the whole time he had been reporting back to Rowan. The only thing that made him feel a bit better was that Tom seemed to be trying to make amends after he was caught. He was quiet for a while, he was also thinking how everyone he trusted had plotted behind his back, even Olivia. Jerry was waiting for him to say something, but after a while he decided to break the silence.
"I know this all sucks and Tom really screwed up, but he did tried to make things better and what matters is that I'm alive and well" He said attempting to make his dad feel better. Fitz looked at him and tried to smile, he grabbed Jerry's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Yeah, you are right… could you please get Huck so he can fill us in on what happened last night?" Jerry got up and went for the door, he told one of the agents outside to get Huck.
"Look I was pretty upset when Liv told me everything, but I came around, you just gotta look at the big picture" Jerry told him. Fitz was impressed to see how mature Jerry was acting, he hadn't seen that side of his son in a long time and he knew Olivia was to thank for that, he really needed to talk to her but he had the feeling she was avoiding him. He decided to be concerned about one problem at a time and leave the situation with Liv for later.
AN2: So Fitz is going to be just fine, he already knows what happened, but he still needs to talk to Liv and clear the air between them, lets just hope life doesn't get in the way, it's going to be a mess when it all goes public. Please review, I love to read what you guys think :)
