A/N: Love all the reviews! You guys motivate me to keep the story moving and keep the updates fresh. THANK YOU!
I have two other Scandal fan fic ideas percolating in my brain that are very different from this one, but I don't know if I've got the time/energy to develop them. We'll see. One is potentially controversial. Can you guess what it might be about?
Now back to this story...The last couple of chapters have been very intense, so let's dial the tension way down in this short chapter.
Chapter 17: April in Paris
The warmth of the sun woke Olivia up. She opened her eyes and squinted in the direction of the light source. It was so warm and inviting, like a hug. What time was it? She rolled over in the bed to find the clock and bumped into Fitz. He was fast asleep. She smiled drowsily.
There was no clock to be found but the warmth of the sun was gradually becoming more intense. It must've been around 8 a.m. Olivia knew she and Fitz would soon have to get out of bed and start the day.
Where were they? There was a huge window across from the bed and in it, framed like a picture postcard, was the Eiffel Tower. Oh my God!, Olivia thought. We're in Paris! She couldn't believe it. Paris was one of her favorite cities and the idea that she and Fitz were there together, in the City of Lights, made her feel so happy inside.
The warmth of the sun was becoming more intense. What time was it? Could it be almost noon? She racked her brain trying to remember what had transpired the night before. She couldn't remember. That was strange. Perhaps she and Fitz had had too much wine to drink the night before. In fact, she did feel a little bit like she had a hangover. Her head and limbs felt heavy and she lacked the energy and willpower to bring them to life. Hmmmm, Olivia quietly hummed. "Maybe Fitz and I should just spend the day in bed. Yes, that would be nice," Olivia thought, smiling to herself. Then in the evening, they could walk along the Seine and have dinner in one of those quaint little bistros in the 7th arrondissement before coming back to their hotel to make love. Hmmmm, it sounded so perfect. Olivia smiled and rolled over to hug Fitz. He was still fast asleep and hadn't stirred a bit during Olivia's morning reverie.
Olivia heard a noise behind her. It sounded like the scraping of a chair against a concrete floor. She turned over. The warmth of the sun was becoming unbearable. She would have to get up and close the curtain, she thought. But she felt oh so drowsy.
« Wake up! » someone said. Where was that voice coming from, Olivia thought, confused.
« WAKE UP! » The voice was louder, insistent and coarse.
Then Olivia felt a splash of icy cold water in her face. She coughed and gasped for air while her eyes blinked wildly. Off to the left, the golden orb of a huge heat lamp came into focus. It was only a couple feet away from the cot she was lying on and had been the source of the intense heat she had been experiencing only moments before. Sitting in the shadows, off to the side in a rickety wooden chair was her chief captor. She could feel his cold, dead eyes locked on her face.
"Well, Miss Pope, did you have a nice nap?" the man asked, sarcastically. "You appeared to be dreaming. What were you dreaming about?"
Olivia didn't respond. She tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling. April in Paris, the Eiffel Tower, Fitz. All of it was a dream.
"OK, so you don't feel like talking. Well, we'll see about that," the man with dead eyes said cruelly.
Olivia sat up in the cot. With the back of her hand, she wiped her eyes. Salty tears, mixed in with the water her captor had thrown in her face, began to fall.
A/N: I know the whole dream sequence scenario has been played out in fan fic, but how else am I going to get Liv and Fitz together in the present day while she's still in captivity?
In the next chapter we'll catch up with Huck and find out what he's been up to. We might even learn who Farheed Davi is working with to bring down the POTUS.