The rain drops are hitting her office window with soft thumps; the rhythm increasing steadily as the storm outside rages on. The howling wind and the the sound of branches breaking outside shatter her focus, and she looks up for the first time in hours. It's dark outside, she lost all track of time. Zoey is with her mom, but she should head home anyway, just in case the girl is scared. She picks up her things absentmindedly, her mind has drifted to him. He's replaced flowers with popcorn and wine, including the same card every single time. It's no longer charming or cute, now it's too much, it's suffocating her; her thoughts are a blur. She needs time, and distance – concepts he seems unfamiliar with.

"Hold the door please." And she's running into the elevator, juggling her umbrella, bag and the latest tub of popcorn; trying desperately not to drop anything. "Thanks." And her gaze is met by a triumphant smile on his face. She's not charmed, or entertained; she's annoyed – why does he think this is a game?

"Really, Fitz? You're stalking me now? You need to stop. With the presents and the cards, and showing up places. You just need to stop. You're messing with my head, you're messing with my daughter's head and then you'll decide this was all a whim and leave. I mean, what you got a divorce in the morning and decided by the afternoon that you wanted me, so how long do you think that will last? How long do you think this new obsession of yours will go on for, before you're gone? Because one of these days I will give in, and I will use that card; just so that you can, once again, break my heart. So please, just stop. Just, leave me alone." And she says it all in one breath; never taking a break. Never blinking, never looking at him. She's exhausted by the end of it; it's exhausting, loving him.

"I had a meeting with David Rosen. I honestly didn't think I would run into you. I'm sorry. Not for this. I'm sorry for… well I guess everything." His eyes are fixed to the floor, but she can tell tears are pooling in them. The cracking of his voice is a giveaway; maybe after all, it's not just a game. And she's about to apologize, but there are no right words in her mind; they all seem to have escaped the moment he came back. Then, suddenly, everything is shaking, the lights are out and there's no humming sound. Electricity's gone, the elevator's stuck; no way out.

"Are you OK?" And he's trying to reach for her hand, but she pulls it away. The generators will kick in and they will be free; out of here.

"Fine." She drops her stuff to the floor, trying to find her phone, but it's not there; it's 20 floors away. "Damn it!"

"What's wrong?"

"I left my phone. Forgot it upstairs. I need to call Zoey, let her know I'm running late."

"Here, use mine." And he's taking it out, putting a number in, and handing it to her.

"I thought you didn't have my number. That explained the cards."

"No. I had it. Have it. I just didn't want to pressure you. I wanted you to call because you wanted to." And with that she feels even worse for yelling at him. She takes it slowly and smiles, not that he can see in the dark. But he does, he can still, to this day feel her smile. She can't get through, the lines are down, so she hangs up; and a photo replaces the numbers. It's him with his kids; they're all laughing. It looks like he was giving both of them a piggy-back ride at the same time. They have the same eyes – grey and blue, so warm, yet also icy cool. She realizes she's staring, and he's looking at her.

"That's Karen, and that's Gerry." He says somewhat unnecessarily. She knows, of course she knows; but he's trying to break the tension.

"They look like you." Her voice is soft, quiet, laced with nostalgia. Her walls are coming down, and he grabs the moment before she can get them back up. He sits down on the elevator floor, patting the ground next to him – "Sit with me Liv." She's sitting down, darkness all around, broken up only by the radiating light of the phone in her hand, illuminating them.

"So, tell me about them."

"Karen is 14. She's great. A brainiac, but really funny, witty. She's hilarious. And she knows the most random things. Like did you know that the biggest thing that a whale can swallow is an apple? Things like that. Things that make me smile. And Gerry, he's 12. He's really into art. He plays the piano and he's really good. And he makes these amazing collages, and these really cool installations. A lot of it is quite political as well. He's too smart for his age, I always tell him that. But he's not very academic. Which really bugs Mellie." And with that he stops. There's an awkward pause. He wishes he didn't mention her.

"You miss them."

"I do. But Mellie and I worked out a custody arrangement, so that they can stay with her, stay in school, and then I get them here for holidays." And with that he turns to her, looking directly into her eyes. "Liv, my divorce, me coming to see you, it wasn't a whim. It's been in the works for a while. We were never in love, we just waited for them to be old enough to understand, old enough for it to be OK. It wasn't a whim. You're not a current obsession. You're it. You've been it for me since the first time I saw you in Cafeteria. It's not a whim. And if you need time, if you need space – that's OK. But I, I'm not going away." She's holding his gaze, trying to will herself to look away; but she can't.

"I'm sorry. About that. About what I said. I don't want you to stop. I just need some time."

"Well time we've got." He breaks the gaze, and looks up, closing his eyes; finding her hand in the dark. "You always liked the dark. Even then, you could say things in the dark that you could never say otherwise. You'd say things in the dark, and then you'd shy away in the lights. Afraid I'd see you. But you know, I see you anyway. I see you even in the dark; I see you even when you hide; I see you." She doesn't know what to say. He doesn't just see her, he sees through her – and that, that is terrifying. It's also kind of magical; the way he sees her, and not the dark; the way he sees her as the light. So instead of speaking, she just puts her head on his shoulder; breathing him in.

"So, tell me about Zoey. She seems like a great kid."

"She is. She's… she's my everything. She's so smart that it scares me sometimes. And she's a great dancer. She loves to dance, she loves ballet. And one day, one day she wants to be the president."

He chuckles. "Sounds a lot like her mom."

"Yeah." There's unmistakable sadness in her voice, brokenness, cracks beneath the surface.

"Liv…"

"You want to know who her dad is."

"Not unless you want to tell me. I just… I'm trying to figure out who would be stupid enough to walk away from her, from you."

"He's dead. They're dead. Her parents are dead. I adopted her five years ago. They were in a car accident. Car vs. truck. Her mom was dead at the scene, dad died in surgery. She, somehow she survived, without a scratch. And she didn't have anyone. I met her at the hospital. Abby was having a baby and I was waiting for the news, and they brought in this little girl. And the social services weren't there yet, and she was scared. So I waited with her. I held her. She fell asleep in my arms. They told me about her dad. She was too little to understand, but I was a grown up and I still didn't understand, how people can be gone in a blink of an eye. When DCF showed up she wouldn't let go, she didn't cry though, she just held on." Tears are streaming down her face and he's pulling her to his chest, into an embrace.

"Livvy…"

"She doesn't remember them. And I don't know how to talk about it, about them. I don't know things about them to tell her. Her parents are dead and all she's got is me. What if one day, I'm not enough?" She's telling him things, her fears, fears she was too scared to acknowledge are now out in the open, they're between them, no longer her own.

"You can never not be enough. If I ever made you feel that way, I am so sorry. But you were always enough, you are enough, you're the love of my life. And more importantly you're the love of that little girl's life. She's lucky to have you. And she loves you to the moon and back." She's quieting down; her breathing matching the rhythm of his heart – slow and steady. "You know, she's the one who told me about the party. She called me." And she's looking up, awe-struck. "All she wants is for you to be happy Liv, because you make her so happy every day. And trust me, there are plenty parents who wish they could say the same." He kisses her tears away. "OK?"

"OK." But she doesn't move. No she's perfectly happy where she is, the way she is – sitting quietly, next to him. Darkness surrounding them, taking away everything, letting them just be.

I hope you enjoyed that. This story is like my revision therapy. I really wanted Zoey's backstory to be different, I wanted Liv to have saved her in a way, and for her to have done the same. The next chapter is a mini time-jump, to see where they're headed after this. I have a lot of ideas for this story, so I was really never going to keep them apart for too long :)

And thanks for the reviews, I LOVE reading them.