Olivia stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She unraveled the sheets, taking in her naked form. Her stomach had gotten significantly bigger and she was surprised that she was able to still move around without toppling over. Surprisingly, she hadn't gained much weight except for her belly and for that, she was grateful. Her 5'2 frame was simply not enough to carry so much weight and she truly didn't know what she would do with herself. She stood on her tip toes as she opened the medicine cabinet, reaching for the bottle of her favorite cocoa butter lotion. She squeezed the creamy lotion into the palm of her hands and rubbed them together to add some body heat before she lathered it across her stomach. It had become a ritual for her, moisturizing her stomach at least two times a day, or like now, whenever she felt itchy. It was a secret that Fitz's mother had shared with her to decrease the chance of stretch marks.
Since her pregnancy had finally been formally announced, Marsha Grant had stepped into the grandmother role almost immediately. Like Fitz and the rest of the Grant clan, she wanted catch up on missed time. Marsha called nearly everyday, speaking more to Olivia than Fitz, and was always full of advice for the care of her first grand baby. Olivia called her when she had any questions and like Kelly, Olivia began to form a very close bond with the woman.
For Olivia, it meant the world to have a mother figure back in her life. It deeply saddened her to think about the broken relationship she shared with her mother because she chose to follow her own path. She never doubted the decision she made until she learned of her mother's death. The regret she felt about not trying to reconnect with her mother before she left this earth hit her hard and she always wondered how her life would have turned out if she wasn't so stubborn. She reminisced about the cheerful moments she did share with Maya Pope before her life had turned upside down. Walks to the local park nearby; spending hours trying on her mother's clothes, shoes, accessories and makeup; the lazy afternoons spent on the couch eating popcorn and ice cream; Olivia begging for mercy while Maya attempted to comb through her tender scalp.
Olivia moved to the doorway, quickly peaking on Fitz's still sleeping form before she cautiously closed the door to the bathroom. Wrapping the sheets around herself again, she carefully sat herself on the bathroom counter, turning on the iHome to allow some music to play while she gathered her thoughts. The sweet sounds flowed through the bathroom and her mind immediately went back to Fitz. How amazing he had always been, even with the minor bumps they've had in their relationship. How she almost made the biggest mistake in her life by letting him go.
Now it's been three years since we've been in love
And you keep doin' things to show you're proud of
Thirty beauties in the room, only me you see
The confidence you give lives in me
I vow to never break your heart, I'll never let you down
For better or worse, I'll always be around
And with you here to share my life, so complete
And because of you I know how it feels to be
She thought about where they were presently and how he made it so easy to fall in love with him again. How he quickly readjusted his life to ensure that she and their baby were comfortable and well taken care of, and how he managed to worship her body and took her to heights and levels she thought she'd never see. She was hopelessly in love with Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III. She fiend for him, she craved for him and she was an idiot for not seeing that before. Tears trickled down her face as she thought of how selfishly she had behaved and how she could have not only ruined their lives, but also the life of their unborn daughter.
Through you I live and love again
Open the path to happiness
Through you I learn to smile again
I thank God for you
Through you I live and love again
I trust you just guide me, take my hand
Through you I learn to smile again
I love you, I love you
The sudden urge to have to use the bathroom woke him up in the middle of the night. He opened his eyes and noticed that she wasn't in bed next to him. Knowing her, she probably snuck off into the kitchen for a late night snack. He figured he'd go look for her in a bit because his bladder was ready to explode. He walked into the bathroom, and to his surprise, he found Olivia sitting on the counter. She looked angelic, her hair resembling a lion's mane, curly and laid out across her naked shoulders, as she sat wrapped in the white bedsheets. She stared out the window, her knees pressed to her chest, clearly deep in thought, and a faint light reflected off of her mocha skin.
"Baby, you okay?" Her head shot up, obviously unaware of his presence in the bathroom. She looked at him and in her face he saw peacefulness, with a hint of worry. She looked away, not responding to his question. He walked over to her, placing his hands on the edge of the counter on either side of her. "Livvie, talk to me, what's wrong?" He rubbed her shoulders down, caressing her smooth skin.
"It's nothing Fitz". She's lying. It's something, but it's something that she doesn't really want to talk about. But she knows him and she knows that he's not going to stop asking until she tells him. She knows he can tell when something's bothering her and she knows how persistent he is.
"Babe..", he steps into her personal space, placing his chin in the cut of her shoulder. "Livvie…", he breathes out, placing soft kisses against her neck. Instinctively, she bites her bottom lip, her neck rolling back to allow him more access to her sensitive spot. "Talk to me baby..", he nibbles on her flesh softly and a moan escapes her lips.
"Fitz…", she manages to get out while he slowly attacks her neck, his hands traveling underneath the sheet wrapped around her body.
"Hmm?", he respondes, taking her earlobe in between his teeth.
"Do you think I'll be a good mother?", she asks nervously and feels him instantly tense up.
"What?", he pulls away from her in confusion. "Is she joking?" He searches her face for some sort of sign that she's fooling with him, only to be returned with her look of seriousness.
"Do you think I'll be a good mother? To a child? To our child?", she asks again, this time less nervous and more sad.
"Baby...", he wraps his arms around her, pulling her into his warm embrace. "Liv, of course you would be a good mother to our child, to any child. Why would you think you wouldn't be?"
"Because... I overreact and I'm selfish sometimes and I just... I just don't know if I have what it takes..."
He pulls away from her again, his fingers cradling her chin to pull her face closer to his, his lips only mere centimeters away from hers.
"Livvie, you are the most genuine..", he plants a soft kiss on her lips. "...caring...", he kisses her again, "...unselfish...", he bites her bottom lip, "...person I have ever known. Our child couldn't have a better set of parents and I am so lucky to call you the mother of my child."
"I'm scared Fitz. What if she hates me? What if we never get along? What if I'm not good enough for her or I discourage her or I won't let her follow her dreams? What if she likes you more than she likes me? And wants to run to you to talk to you about her day and share all of her secrets?" Tears begin to fall from her eyes and he's absolutely heartbroken. It hurts him to know that she has fear about being a parent, that she's scared that their child won't love her.
"Baby, it's normal for you to have all of this doubt. You're going to be a first time mother Liv. It's a new experience, for the both of us. If you weren't scared, I'd be worried sick. But baby, I'm here. We're in this together. Our baby isn't going to hate you, or prefer me over you. I'd never let that happen. You're gonna be the best mother ever Olivia, and someday, the best wife."
"Yea?", she sniffles.
"Yea!", he places a kiss on her forehead. "Let's clean up those tears and go downstairs for a snack. How does some celery sticks sound?"
"They sound disgusting. Pizza sounds better...", she says in all-seriousness.
"Livvie, we're not ordering pizza in the middle of the night...", he replies sternly, a smile across his face.
"You sure about that babe?", she hops off of the bathroom counter, dropping the sheets wrapped around her body, standing on the tip of her toes to place little open mouth kisses across his chest.
"Jesus, you're gonna be the death of me.."
After a huge breakfast, Liv went upstairs to take a shower and rest while Fitz tookover the duty of cleaning up the kitchen. Leftovers were placed in plastic containers and stacked on top of one another in the refrigerator. He then squirted some soap unto the sponge, lathering each item before he rinsed them off and placed them in the dish dryer. He had a nice little system going and the pile of dirty dishes began to shrink while he had a moment to himself to think.
He thought how far he and Olivia had come, how he almost lost her and would have never forgiven himself if she never took him back. He thought about their still unnamed princess growing in her belly and even though he had missed months of development, which Olivia had time and time again apologized for, he cherished the moments he still had left. He smirked as thoughts of the memory of Pepperoni kicking Olivia for the first time flooded his mind. They were spread out on the living room couch, watching a movie, when Olivia immediately jolted up with a look of worry on her face. After a few seconds, she began to smile as she rubbed slow circles against her stomach. Fitz was freaked out, until Olivia explained that their baby had began to flutter her little feet. Olivia reached for his hand, bringing it to rest on her stomach and within seconds a series of little kicks tapped against Fitz's hand. Tears formed in both of their eyes as they leaned in to kiss, the little kicks started to soften as their lips met in the joyous moment.
As Fitz finished up the last of the dishes, he thought about their future. Them welcoming their little girl into the world and spoiling her rotten. They often had discussions about what their child would be like; Fitz hoping she looked like her mother, with her fierce personality, and Olivia hoping she had her father's blue eyes and curly hair, with his timidness. He thought about their home, still waiting to be moved into and furnished, the rooms he hoped to be one day overflowing with love. He thought about them getting married and reminded himself about the ring he still kept tucked away in a safe place for the day he plan to present the idea of them getting married to her again.
He didn't wanna rush things. He had finally gotten back in her good graces and he didn't want to ruin it by leaping too far ahead. They had agreed to take it one step at a time; from them dating each other, to having some sort of living arrangement, to them having sex again for the first time last night. Slow and steady wins the race and them together forever was the finish line.
He makes his way into the bedroom and finds Olivia dancing around in a bra and a pair of panties. Beyonce's voice fills the room and Olivia sings along, making her way back and forth from the closet to the room, spreading out different articles of clothing across the freshly spread bed.
On my mind up past my bedtime, no rest at the kingdom
Alone in my place, my heart is away
All that I can think of is
We should get married, we should get married
Let's stop holding back on this and let's get carried away
He smiles to himself as he watches her quietly from the doorway. How she manages to dance like a pro carrying that huge belly in front of her is beyond him, surely a sight to see. And her voice, so soft and so sweet. She sounds like heaven to his ears and it temporarily annoys him that he has to hear her compete with the other woman's voice.
Stop making a big deal out of the little things
Cause I got big deals and I got little things
Got everything I'm asking for but you
Stop making a big deal out of the little things, let's get carried away
Come right now, you know where I stay
She turns around to head back to the closet to find a different shirt when out of the corner of her eye, she notices Fitz standing at the entrance of their bedroom. She stops dancing and he chuckles as she walks over to him, placing a soft kiss on his lips.
"You were watching me?"
"I was..."
"For how long?"
"A few minutes..."
"And you stood there like a creep and didn't say anything?"
"I didn't wanna ruin your fun..", he smiles and she responds by pinching him.
"Dance with me!", she pulls his hand before he even gets a chance to a respond, basically dragging him into the center of the room.
I just wanna say, you're mine, you're mine
I just wanna say, you're mine, you're mine
Fuck what you heard, you're mine, you're mine
All I'm really asking for is you
You're mine, you're mine
I just wanna say, you're mine, you're mine
Fuck what you heard, you're mine, you're mine
As long as you know who you belong to
She sings to him, her back against his chest with her arms wrapped around his neck and his arms wrapped around her waist. They sway together as the words flow from her mouth, his lips softly kissing her cheek.
"Fitz?"
"Yes baby?"
"We should get married.."
"We should, shouldn't we?", he kisses her hair, enticed in the sweet smell of her hair conditioner.
"Today?", she turns in his arms, her stomach creating a little distance between them.
"Today..", a broad smile spreads across the both of their faces, the both of them leaning in for a kiss.
AN: I have no excuse as why it's taken me so long to update, but school and work have been literally kicking my ass. This one was long overdue, but I'm sure you all loved this chapter! So, Olivia has some doubts about being a mother and Fitz assured her that everything will be just fine. And they're finally going to get married! The songs mentioned were:
Love by Destiny's Child
Mine by Beyonce featuring Drake,
the latter I'm sure majority of you are all aware. I'm a Beyonce fan (not stan) and even though this album does absolutely nothing for me (so disappointing), I knew I wanted to use this song for this scene. It took me awhile, but we made it! Thanks for the reviews, suggestions, PMs, etc. You all are absolutely amazing. Til next time..