A/N: New Chapter. Don't know if I will get another one up before Jan. 29th so enjoy.
She stood in the mirror giving herself a once over, and honestly, trying to figure out how to make her midsection look not as round or obvious, or something. Not that she personally mind it, it's just that she was going to head over to the office a little later to meet with a potential client and she didn't need it being a distraction. There was also a press conference being held at the white house to discuss recent events overseas in Angola and she also didn't need part of the focus turning to her baby bulge if she needed to show up at the white house at any point and time. The media still hadn't completely let go of the leak about her being Fitz's mistress. She hoped this baby would serve to put an end to all that. She notice her facial expression grow a little more sullen at the thought of using her baby to cover her affair with Fitz. Her eyes deviated away from her reflection in the mirror as the intense feeling of guilt and shame overcame her and she could no longer stomach looking at herself.
She continued to fiddle with the silk maternity shirt for a little longer. A couple of weeks had passed since Jake had left. Although, he had been over every day since, a bag of groceries accompanying him for the first ten days until she made him stop, to Anna's dismay. She had told him that there was no way she could eat a bag of groceries within a 24 hour period to which Anna had replied that's why she came over as often as possible to help. He had been staying at a hotel a few streets over and had recently found an apartment on her street, just a few blocks down. Which now that Anna was busier at the dance studio helping one of her friends put a show together, she had to admit she had become lonely since he left. It was probably because between him and Anna constantly being at her apartment and Abby and Quinn constantly being around either due to work or helping her get something in her personal life sorted in preparation for the baby, she had gotten used to not coming home to an empty apartment or being left alone with her sordid thoughts, which she didn't realize they were until she had actually gotten a break from them. It was funny how something so messed up didn't seem as messed up after you had been constantly exposed to it for a period of time.
She was pulled from her thoughts by a knock at her door. She sighed, flattening the bloused down one last time before giving up completely. There was a 35 week old fetus continuing to grow inside of her uterus, the world was just going to have to get over it. She knew who it was before she even opened the door. He had told her that he would be by to attend the doctor's visit with her. She checked the peep hole just to make sure it wasn't an unwanted visitor before she undid the lock and opened the door. She just stared at him. If she was honest, she was still a little upset with him for leaving. She didn't like not having him there with her.
"I didn't think you were coming," she lied. She knew he was, but again, she was still mad at him so she was giving him a hard time.
He gave her a knowing look as she turned and walked back into the apartment, leaving the door open for him to enter.
"I told you I was," he reminded her. There was no reason for her to think that he wasn't. He had done everything that he told her he would, being extra careful to do it in a timely manner these last couple of weeks knowing that even though she had given the okay for him to move out, she was still a little angry at him for doing so.
He looked around the living room as she continued about the apartment gathering her things and preparing to head out for the day. It was actually starting to look a lot like her old apartment, only bigger. It was starting to look and feel like a home again, after the last of the boxes had been unpacked and discarded. He wasn't surprised though, during the last week he had seen her starting to split her time between OPA, Abby and the White House, and doing little things around the apartment, which Abby had informed her that she was nesting. A term which she had rejected, but did admit that she was growing impatient waiting on the arrival of the baby. He looked around the apartment again. It really was huge. He didn't understand why she hadn't just purchased a condo or a home and didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. Her lack of wanting to put down more permanent roots indicated that she planned on leaving D.C at some point. Rather it was to Vermont with Fitz or to make a run for it and leave D.C, Fitz, Cyrus, and everything political and toxic about her life behind whenever she got a clear opening was yet to be seen.
She was back on her way to OPA for her late morning meeting, but a million and one other thoughts were running through her head. Jake had asked her to brunch afterwards to which she had accepted. They had chatted over the meal about various things, him clearly trying to stay away from stressful subjects. They had veered to the subject of names for the baby, which she had thought of but hadn't really discussed with anyone yet. He made a few suggestions, which she wasn't opposed to, before informing him that she had settled on Adeline. He responded by repeating the name and stating that he liked it, though she could tell he was a little bummed about not having any input. She countered this by telling him she hadn't picked a middle name to which he could choose, and that although she absolutely loved the name Adeline that they would probably end up using her middle name more often than not since she absolutely did not want anyone nick naming the child Addy. Not that she didn't like the name, but she was positive that there would be hundreds of other little girls running around the playground that went by the name Addy, and she wanted something more unique for her daughter. But she wasn't willing to give up the name Adeline just because it was associated with the name Addy. She loved the sound of the name, it sounded elegant but not to serious and it meant noble, something which she was hoping that the child possessed more of than anyone of her parents, family, or other adults that would be in her life. Not that the people she planned on having in her child's life weren't noble, their loyalties and priorities just often times led them astray... a lot. He smiled when he realized that she had actually thought this through and felt honored that she was giving him the responsibility of choosing the middle name as long as it wasn't anything too outrageous. He liked more androgynous names, to which she had agreed if just to make people do a double take when they likely expected a guy after her daughter had accomplished something the sexist people in the more prominent positions would figure no female ever could. He had proposed Ryan, which she liked because it went well with Adeline and she could see it now. The big wigs saying to bring that Ryan guy in here, we'd love to meet him, only to have her little girl turn the corner causing misogynistic jaws to hit the floor.
After that, they had parted ways, him telling her that he had a job offer he needed to check into. To which she had eyed him suspiciously, and after noting that he was avoiding eye contact with her after gathering his things had warningly called his name, making him look at her. "What does this job entail?" she asked him. To which he respond, "I don't believe that's any of your business," but he gave a little at least telling her it was nothing as immediately dangerous as B6-13. "What is that supposed to mean?" she questioned. There were few things in this world as dangerous as B6-13 so he wasn't giving her much. "Let me just say, it's not any more dangerous than what you're doing," and he left her with that after throwing two twenties on the table to pay for their meal and tip the waitress. She had stared after him as he walked out of the coffee house, still not pleased with the responses she had received.
She had left the coffee house and started the walk towards her office. She figured she'd walk since she still had time and she was hoping that walking would cause this kid to pop out sooner rather than later. The doctor had told her that the good news was that babies born at 34 weeks or after generally did fine, so she could at least ease her fears of a preterm birth a little. And that every week after this week she made it through the pregnancy would just serve to reassure that the baby would be fine whenever she decided to make her appearance. Unfortunately she had also informed her that a lot of first time mothers often went past their due date and some of them even ended up having to be induced because after a week post due date, the rates of problems with the birth or complications with the baby started to go up again. She didn't want her baby to come early as she wanted her to come out under optimal circumstances but she also did not want to go a day past her 40 week mark since it seemed to offer no added benefit. Hell it seemed after 38 weeks there wasn't really any added benefit so she was open to that two week time frame. The first trimester had been just miserable between the morning sickness, fatigue and coming to term with the pregnancy itself. The second semester had been a lot better, but now it was just becoming uncomfortable. There were two human beings trying to occupy the same space, and she didn't know how much more give her insides had.
Her thoughts traveled to her parents. Her father in all of his craziness had shown up at her apartment the week before. She and Anna had walked in to find him sitting at her dining room table. She had told him to leave, he had pulled a gun on them. Anna had informed him of his need for a stay in a mental institution as he felt he needed to bring gifts, referring the records he had brought, and a gun to the same meeting. She had then pulled the trigger of the unloaded gun on him, which really threw Anna for a loop after he screamed and reacted as if she had really shot him. He left, vowing he was gone for good, to which Anna asked him if he promised this time. He just gave both of them a stern look before leaving. The whole ordeal caused them to sleep in the same bed for the next few days to which Anna had stated she was just concerned for her and the baby, but Olivia knew that incident had terrified Anna just as much as it had her, and did not object to the sleeping arrangements either way.
She had then been informed that her mother had been found at Wonderland and was being held in Super Max. Her mother's jaw hit the floor, speechless, as Olivia entered the room, her stomach leading the way. She had then whispered a "Well I'll be damned," upon seeing Anna enter behind her. She stared at Anna for a while, not having seen her since, well she didn't exactly know when because she was positive that her parents' habit of stalking her extended to Anna, and she had lost track of her mother the first time she had broken out of custody. "Hey Aunt Ma…hmm," Anna had started before turning to Olivia and asking her what they were calling the woman now. Her mother had replied telling the girl to call her what she had always called her. Anna, in her perfect form turned to her and greeted her as "My late Aunt Maya," to which her mother, not really being in the mood for Anna's smart mouth had told her to "Watch it little girl." She then turned her attention to Olivia, "Baby please, tell me you didn't let this fool do that to you," Olivia shifted uncomfortably as she motioned to Fitz before motioning to Olivia's midsection. Olivia shifted uncomfortably as her mother went on but didn't say anything as Jake and Fitz continued to try to get some information out of her. She ignored them, "Oh, Livvie I wanted so much more for you than this, Baby. Why? Why would you do this?" Still no verbal response from Olivia as her eyes started to fill with tears. She didn't know why? She should be happy that her mother was disappointed in her. The only way she could see her not being disappointed in her is if she was an international fugitive killing random important people if they didn't stand for what she stood for or give her what she wanted.
"That's enough Maya," Jake said slamming his hands down on the table after seeing the tears in Olivia's eyes. Her mother being the perceptive one, turned to Jake, unfazed by his outburst and observed him closely before looking back to Olivia and doing the same. She then turned to Fitz who had this sad look on his face she attributed to weakness. She then turned to Anna who was trying to avoid eye contact with everyone now. She knew the girls MO having helped raise her from a baby. It didn't take long to put the picture together.
She then turned back to Olivia stating that she still wasn't impressed, but at least that was better than the alternative. Olivia, growing tired of her antics had told them to charge and arrest her, before she walked out without another word.
By the time she finished backtracking through the events of the last few weeks she was in front of her office building. She tried to clear the previous thoughts from her head and focus on the task that lay ahead.
"Good morning," she greeted Huck and Quinn as she made her way to her office. They grumbled back their greetings, neither of them looking up from their laptops. She discarded her outer layers and pulled her phone from her purse before going through it to make sure she didn't have any missed messages. She then began checking news updates and texting Abby just to make sure she hadn't missed anything that had gone on with Fitz or any other part of the white house. She had just pressed send on a text to Abby when she heard the ding of the elevator. She put her phone in her desk and took a deep breath. The good thing about this case was the fact that the client actually had time to call and make an appointment and not just barge into the office begging for their help told her that it probably wasn't a big deal and they would probably be able to solve it in a few days.
"Mr. Rosenbaum's here," Quinn alerted her as she held the door open for the client and what she assumed was his wife to enter.
"It's nice to meet you," she smiled as she stood up to go over to greet them and saw the man's face drop noticeably.
"Oh, you're pregnant," he stated the obvious.
She would think that by now, seeing how much these chauvinistic bastards ended up on their door step begging for her help, they would have gotten over the fact that she was a woman by the time they got there.
"Yes," she stated trying to maintain a pleasant tone. "I am also a woman, in case you missed that part of it. Is that going to be a problem?"
"Oh, no. No I didn't mean it like that," the man explained as his wife looked at him with a smug grin, making it seem as though he had a habit of saying things that made him sound like an ass. "It just looks like you're pretty far along. Are you going to be able to handle this situation for us? Because I'm not paying you all of this money to let your employees screw this up."
She maintained her smile, which took a lot out of her. "Mr. Rosenbaum, you are not paying all of this money to have my employees screw anything up, you are paying to have them help you with a problem you have, as have every other client who has walked through that door. I rarely ever handle a case alone and I assure you my employees are handpicked by me and more capable than anyone else you are going to find if you walk out of that door. Now," she finally was able to let the smile go, "can we get down to business. What are you here for?" On second thought she hoped that they would solve this case by the next day. This guy was already rubbing her the wrong way. It didn't go any better when he turned out to have the typical problem of any senator, CEO, insert any important title of not being able to keep it in his pants and being stupid enough to not use protection and now he had an illegitimate child and needed to keep the mother quiet and out of his bank account. And as always, he thought that this was the biggest thing on her plate right now. She wondered if these people knew how often things like this happened. She figured they probably didn't which was a good thing because her business would probably slow substantially if they realized every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the upper echelons of business and politics had a love child running around. What would be the use of concealing it if they knew how commonly it happened?
She reassured the man and his wife, who glanced at the man every now and then to give him a spiteful look and only spoke to point out her husband's stupidity and ignorance, that everything would be handled and save for making sure that the child was well taken care of and had a college fund, they would no longer have to worry about issuing out any of their monetary funds to the mother. Which she felt a little weird about now, given her current situation. She found herself wondering how the relationship between the man and the mistress had played out. Had it been just about sex or was it a world wind romance? Had he promised her a life together or had she, as he put it, tried to trap him by getting knocked up? She doubted that he was telling the truth, he just seemed like the type to pull the victim card after he had done something to get himself in a difficult situation. Either way, he was a client and she was going to fix this for him.
A/N: Hey guys, so I know I've been trying to incorporate some of the events of the actual show into this but that may stop unless something happens on the show that I really like or really plays well into the story I'm trying to convey. More Liv/Jake next chapter and hopefully a baby in the next chapter or 2. Either way, comments are welcomed.