Put a Ring On It
A/N: This update takes place right before Mellie is about to announce her Senate candidacy. Also, assume that Rowan and B613 are nonfactors for the purposes of this story. They (and Joke) are my least favorite elements of the canonical story, so we won't dwell on them here :D
"Mr. President?"
"President Grant?"
"…Mr. President, are you alright? Mr. President?"
Vaguely, as if from another world, Fitz could feel a hand shaking his shoulder vigorously, trying to wake him up.
Fitz blinked his eyes open and was face to face with John, one of his Secret Service agents. He glanced over to his left and saw that Olivia was still asleep on the floor right next to him. Both of them had fallen asleep on top of her torn wedding dress after they had made frantic love against the wall of their new house in Cathedral Heights. All she was wearing was the sexy white slip she had worn under her wedding dress. With John here now, Fitz couldn't help but be relieved they had pulled on their clothes before falling asleep on the floor.
"Sorry to disturb you, Mr. President, but I had to be sure you were alright. You and Ms. Pope were passed out in the floor-I had to be sure you weren't sick or hurt."
Fitz stood up, suddenly wide awake. "It's okay, John. You were just doing your job. Both of us are fine." He smiled to himself. They were more than fine!
"Alright, good. I just had to be sure." John seemed hesitant to leave.
"Anything else I can help you with, John?" Fitz prompted.
"Well Mr. President, I hate to bother you, but can I speak to you a moment about…something?"
"Sure." Fitz motioned for John to follow him into the opposing hall away from Olivia. He didn't want to wake her. "What's up?"
"Well, your Chief of Staff has called 73 times since the wedding trying to convince me to interrupt whatever you were doing here and put you on the phone. I knew not to interrupt you while…while you with Ms. Pope, but he's threatened to have me demoted for not following his orders, sir."
Fitz rolled his eyes. Of course Cyrus was having a meltdown since Fitz inturrupted Olivia and Jake's wedding. Fitz would've been more surprised if that wasn't the case. "It's okay, John. You did the right thing- I was definitely busy earlier. I'm sure I can speak for Olivia when I say we both are grateful for your discretion. I certainly appreciate that you're looking out for my interests over the objections of my Chief."
"Of course, Sir. You are my president. My loyalty is to you."
"You'd be surprised how often that isn't true," Fitz said dryly. "And I know this isn't the first time you've come through for me. In fact, I'm starting to believe you're one of the good guys. Can I trust you, John? Can I depend on you stay loyal to me- no matter what?"
John nodded solemnly. "Of course, Mr. President. Whatever you need from me, I'll be happy to do it."
Fitz nodded. "Okay, well some really important things are about to happen. You were at the wedding- you saw everything that happened, so you know I'm going to have a helluva fall out to deal with. I need to know I have someone in my detail that I can trust- someone I can really rely on. Can you be that someone?"
"Yes, I can, Mr. President."
"All right, John. Disregard the Chief of Staff's threats. As long as you stay loyal to me, you'll always have a place in my detail no matter what anyone else says. That's a promise."
John exhaled in relief. "Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you so much."
Fitz nodded and turned away, dismissing John. It was good to know he had someone he could depend on in his detail. That would prove essential to his plans later.
Fitz went back into the hallway where Olivia laid, still sleeping. He gathered her tiny frame into his arms and lifted her up. Fitz looked down into the peaceful face of the woman he loved. He thought she looked like a beautiful, serene angel. He slowly climbed the winding staircase with her fast asleep in his embrace. He quietly opened the large double doors that led into the master bedroom, crossed the room, and laid Olivia down gently on the bed. Olivia stirred slightly, but did not wake.
Fitz stood and watched her for a moment. She was just so beautiful- he would never get tired of looking at her. Her gorgeous, dewy, caramel-toned skin, her full, sensual lips. Her cheekbones that looked sharp enough to cut glass. Her wide, lovely doe eyes that seemed to peer into his soul. Sometimes he couldn't believe such a perfect beauty existed in this world- and he definitely couldn't believe that beauty loved him.
Smiling to himself, Fitz left Olivia on the bed and went into the adjoining bathroom to change his clothes. He opened a hamper full of clean laundry. He had his staff supply everything they would need to hide out for a couple of days in their new house- groceries had been delivered, new toiletries had been placed in all the bathrooms, the new hot tub had been filled, and the saltwater pool had been heated to 90 degrees in preparation for their visit. Of course, Fitz hadn't known for sure that Olivia would call off her wedding and come back here with him-but he had been 1000% prepared just in case. He found a T-shirt and some jeans in the hamper and pulled them on.
Fitz went back to the master bedroom to check on Olivia. He was surprised to see her sitting up on the bed.
"Hi," she said, smiling as she rubbed her eyes.
"Hi," he responded. He crossed the room and kissed her lightly on the lips.
"I hope I didn't wake you. I tried to be quiet."
"No, no, you didn't, but not feeling your body next to mine did." Olivia smiled at him and put her hands around his waist. She leaned into him and closed her eyes for a moment, just happy to be next to him.
Fitz smiled and pulled her closer to him. They kissed again, sweetly and slowly. Suddenly, Olivia gently broke away from Fitz. She sighed.
"What's wrong?" Fitz asked, his face full of concern. "Are you tired- ready to go back to bed?"
"I don't want to go back to sleep," Olivia said, a note of sadness in her voice.
Fitz was surprised. "Why? I thought you'd be exhausted with everything that's happened today-not to mention the fact it's already late."
Olivia sighed again. "I don't want to sleep…because if I do, soon it will be morning, and then we'll have to face the world. We have some chaos to deal with."
"Yes, that's putting it mildly," Fitz said teasingly.
"Fitz, I'm serious! What should we do? How do we even begin to attack all this? Everything's out in the open- everyone saw you interrupt the wedding, everyone saw us kissing. We can't keep our phones off forever- I'm sure when we turn them on we'll see footage of us kissing at the wedding plastered everywhere. We can't deny our relationship anymore! So how can we…"
Fitz silenced her with a kiss. He moved his tongue slowly inside of her mouth, gently caressing her lips with his. Olivia sighed and moved closer to him. Their bodies fit each other perfectly, like jigsaw puzzle pieces. As Fitz ran his fingers down her back slowly over and over, Olivia succumbed to his touch completely.
After a moment, Fitz gently broke their embrace. "I love you so much," he said quietly.
Olivia exhaled. "I love you too, and that was nice, but it doesn't change the fact that we have a major crisis on our hands. How can you be so calm? We should be making some plans!"
"How can I be so calm? Really? After all this time, you still don't know?"
Olivia looked confused. Fitz took both of her hands in his and kissed them.
"I was serious when I said I would resign the presidency in order to have a life with you. I don't fear any fallout about our relationship being out because it has nothing to do with our future…NOTHING. You and I are finally, completely, totally, together. We can take on anything. So whatever happens- I KNOW we can handle it. I don't have to worry. Plus, I don't know whether you've forgotten this or not, but it doesn't hurt that I'm pretty friendly with the world's best crisis manager." Fitz smiled at her impishly.
Olivia was momentarily speechless. The weight and gravity of his faith in her…and in them-never ceased to amaze her. She smiled, still feeling a twinge of nervousness but mostly reassured. She met his gaze with hers. "But Fitz-tell me. Do you really want to resign? Is that really how you want your presidency to end?"
Fitz paused. "No, I don't want to resign. Ultimately, I would like to find a way to save my presidency. I made promises to the American people when I was first elected, and I have made some progress- the Equal Pay Act, progression on gun control, the Brandon Bill. But I want to finish the work I've started-make this country closer to what we know it can be. But if it's not possible, I'll walk away from it, and I won't look back."
Olivia smiled broadly. "Okay- then we will fix this together. We will attack this with everything we have- we WILL save your seat in the oval office. We won't accept defeat. Deal?"
Fitz grinned. "Deal. But can we just agree on something else right now?"
"Of course," Olivia said.
"Let's just take tonight. For the rest of the night, let's just enjoy each other. Let's not worry about how we're going to save my presidency for the rest of this evening. We have the rest of our lives to plan the rest of our lives...let's just take tonight-for us." He dropped a kiss on her nose to punctuate his sentence.
"I don't want this night to end," Olivia admitted.
"Let's not let it," Fitz said.
Olivia smiled. "Okay, so what should we do?" She asked good-naturedly. She had quickly fallen in love with the idea of more private time with Fitz.
"The world is our oyster…we can do anything we want." Fitz raised his eyebrows suggestively.
Olivia laughed. "Since we can do anything, how about we start with you showing me the rest of the house you bought us? The hallway and this bedroom are gorgeous, but I can't speak for the rest of it yet."
"Sounds good to me. Let me grab you something to wear." Fitz walked back into the bathroom and found Olivia a pair of black yoga pants and a white tank top.
Olivia gave him a quizzical look. She took the clothes he offered and bent her head to the side in confusion. "So…you had clothes here for me. Why? How did you know I would come here with you?"
Fitz looked sheepish. "Well, I was a Boy Scout a long time ago. I'm always prepared."
Olivia giggled. This was just another of the millions of ways he showed that he couldn't imagine a life without her in it.
"Okay, lead the way then, Boy Scout," she quipped playfully. "Show me this beautiful house you bought us."