They each climbed into the waiting car as Olivia took several deep breaths and put on her fight face. Huck and Michael were in the front. Huck had finally stopped his research or whatever it was that he was doing on the computer. Olivia Claudia and Fitz were all squished in the back, with Olivia in the middle. She was grumbling as her knees were nearly to her chest.

"You're the shortest suck it up little bit," Claudia told her as soon as she heard complaint. When Fitz started laughing Olivia shot him a look and he immediately took her legs and threw them over his own as an apology. Claudia rolled her eyes, and Fitz faux whispered in Olivia's ear,

"You are very tiny Livvy." She tried to give him another dirty look, but he was giving her the smile that she loved, the one that showed all of his teeth, the one that made his eyes more blue and less gray, and the one that he only had on his face with her. She hated being the smallest, it was bad enough she was the youngest, but everyone was taller than her, Claudia by only a few inches but Michael, Huck and Fitz all towered over her by about a foot. When she was talking she could command a room and her size didn't matter, but around her family she often felt dwarfed. She allowed her upper body to lean into her sister's and her legs rested on Fitz as she watched the familiar roads pass by. Michael is talking about all the traveling they've done and how he misses his bed even though its only been a day when it hits her,

"We are NOT staying at the house! Absolutely not."

"Liv…"

"No way! We have no idea what we're walking into, I know you guys live there and that's fine, but you need to take us to a hotel. I'll get a room and a rental car." Fitz was surprised this was even an option; he didn't realize the Michael and Claudia still lived at home, apparently Huck had a small studio apartment, and they would need somewhere to stay tonight. It was nearly ten o'clock Kansas time.

"Liv you can stay in the pool house…" Claudia was beginning to try and get her to agree, she was right that they had no idea what they would be walking into and they would be safer together.

"No, its fine. Huck get five rooms at that place by the convention center." Michael didn't want to go back to that house any more than Olivia did." Olivia cleared her throat at the number of rooms, Michael gave her a look that very clearly said, "don't push me," and Fitz patted her knee to get her to drop it.
She paid little attention to anything going on with the drive and tried to focus on feeling Fitz hands absent-mindedly rubbing her legs. Claudia pointed out the high school to Fitz and told several stories about some of the various spots that they passes, they both tried to get her to engage in the conversation knowing the Olivia living in her own head would only make matters worse. They could both see the wheels turning in her head, working out every scenario in compulsive repetition.

Before Olivia got through a few variations of seeing her Mother, for the first time in nearly four years, she realized they were entering through the gate and heading up the long driveway. Fitz and Claudia could both feel her body tense and they reached out to comfort her at the same time. Her eyes got glassy and her face immediately got splotches of red, she didn't even realize Fitz was squeezing her hands and Claudia had wrapped an arm around her.

Michael parked the car and took a deep breath as he looked at his sisters in the review mirror.

"They don't know where here, well you, Liv. We didn't exactly tell Dad what was going on we just left, and you know Mom doesn't ask, so she doesn't know we went to get you," Michael was almost apologetic when he told her. She just nodded, it didn't really change anything, and she still wouldn't receive the warm welcome she craved, not without her Grandmother there.

"Let's move people," the soft voice Olivia used around him was gone, she and her family all had identical looks on their face, the Gladiator look as Michael had joked earlier, but he could see that this was how they survived. They took care of one another; one unit of stone faces fighting anything that could come their way. He wondered if that's what he would have been like had his father's child had been born, for a minute he wished he had someone to suffer through his parents with, but then he realized how selfish it would be to subject anyone else to that. Even if Olivia, Huck, Cammie, Claudia, and Michael had each other, they were still basically orphans.

They unloaded from the car without bothering to take their belongings, they wouldn't be staying long. Michael lead them with Claudia at his shoulder, followed by Olivia, who's grip on Fitz hand had tightened without her actually intending to, and Huck taking up the rear. Michael walked straight to the front door and knocked before sticking his key in, despite the late hour he knew both his parents would be awake.

"Mom, Dad, we need to talk, come down here… please." Michael knew his parents wouldn't take well to being ordered around, but he was too tired and angry to kiss their asses. Frankly they were lucky he added the please. Maya Pope came out from an unknown room down the hall, but Fitz immediately knew who she was. The resemblance was striking. He found where Olivia got her hair, size, and those big brown eyes. Although on Olivia her hair was flowing and rich, Maya's looked as if it had been exposed to heat damage. Fitz loved how tiny Olivia was, he loved being able to pick her up and toss her on the bed, then watch is her size disarmed anyone, until she spoke, but again on Maya, it just made her look short, nothing more. The eyes though, they were the exact same color and shape, but Olivia's eyes were so expressive and alive, they told him anything he needed to know about what she was thinking or feeling, but Maya's eyes were dead, cold, empty.

"I feel like I'm being summoned and I don't particularly care for it Michael," her words were ice, there was no love or affection, there was only the tiniest hint of familiarity, but mostly indifference. Fitz didn't understand how anyone could treat any of the Pope's he had come to know this way. He was cautious around Michael and Huck to a greater degree, but he already considered them all family. He watched as Olivia shriveled in her mother's presence and it broke his heart.

"Hi Mom." Olivia stepped a little front so that Michael and Claudia weren't blocking her anymore. Maya's face registered no change.

"Olivia. Your hair is different." She self-consciously touched her curls before quickly removing her hand and placing it back in Fitz's hand.

"Well its been a while Mom," her voice was different again, it wasn't his Livvy or the Gladiator, she was a little girl, it was horrible for everyone to watch. Her siblings hadn't heard her use that voice since she left, and it upset them visibly, Michael actually winced when she spoke.

"Yes, I suppose it has Olivia, I see that's not the only thing that's changed." She eyed Fitz and their joined hands with a pinched expression. Fitz was contemplating introducing himself when Claudia finally spoke up, it seems she, like Olivia, had lost some of her personality around their mother.

"Don't you want to know why she's here?" Claudia's voice was a mingling of anger, fear, and protectiveness.

"I figured I would be enlightened once the pleasantries were over, but apparently we are skipping right over that." There was a sneer on her face that only intensified when she heard her husband coming into the room.

"Liv?! What are you doing her sweet girl?" Fitz was thrown by the welcome and how different it was from her mother's. Her father pulled her into a hug, not even noticing Fitz, he only had eyes for his daughter. He whispered into her hair, "I missed you baby girl." Olivia may have had a strained relationship with her parents, but her father loved her, he was ruthless and conniving, but he loved his children. Despite not being trained for the family business Olivia had spent a lot of time with her Dad, talking about cars, books, and football and often him bouncing ideas off of her. It still wasn't a normal or really very healthy parent child relationship, but it was love and she appreciated what she had, knowing the alternative was worse.

He still had an arm looped over his daughter's shoulders when he noticed Fitz standing next to her watching her like a hawk. His loving father face faltered and was replaced by the head of a major crime organization so quickly Fitz was still stunned when he stuck out his hand,

"My name is Fitzgerald Grant, its nice to meet you sir." He briefly wondered if he should bow or something, but it seemed her father was receptive to the handshake. "Nice to meet you too, Fitzgerald is it? You can call me Eli, I assume you've already received my son and nephews approval, because you're standing here without any open wounds." Olivia was taken back by her father's quick acceptance, but assumed it was because he had truly missed her he was going to give them both a reprieve from the third degree. He turned back to face his daughter,

"Okay Liv, why are you here, not that I'm not happy to see you, but the four of you look like you're about to implode," his business face front and center.

Everyone looked at Michael to allow him to explain, while Maya stood back looking annoyed.

"We've got a problem, with Liv's cover, there's been a leak." Her Father's face dropped and her Mother's face dropped for an instant replaced by the sneer too quickly.

"Okay come on, lets go to the table, you guys can fill me in on what's going on, then you can explain to me why your first instinct was to go to Rhode Island and not mention a goddamn thing to me." He knew his children were a united front, but this was unacceptable, he was still in charge. Maya knew they knew what role she had in it and quickly tried to take focus off of herself until she could figure something out. He husband was ruthless and he loved and more than that he actually respected Olivia, there was no way she was going to get out of this unscathed.

"I know you all know better than to discuss this in front of someone outside of the family." Maya was stoned faced as she said it and gestured towards Fitz. Olivia immediately latched onto him.

"It's fine, he knows. We had to tell him, didn't have a choice." Claudia is succinct, but speaks directly to her father. He immediately knows something must have happened and his anger flares.

"Not only did you three leave, knowing full well she was in trouble, but now you're telling me something happened so you decided to further risk her safety by revealing family secrets to a stranger? Have you all lost your minds?" They all just stood there frozen, when they acted to help Olivia, it wasn't a plan, it was instinct. Olivia had officially had enough of the awkward silence and spoke up first. Fitz was relieved when he heard her Gladiator voice, it wasn't his Livvy, but it was a step in the right direction.

"Mother, you have no part in the businesses, any of them, so you are just as much an outsider as Fitz, but trust me when I say you want to be here for this conversation. Dad, Fitz is not a stranger. He took a bullet for me and has been by my side for a year protecting me. Claudia, Michael and Huck didn't tell you what was going on because the last thing they needed was you to start a war based on a false lead. Now can we please sit down and discuss this so I can get back to my life?" Both her parents looked at her shocked, her father's face was also mingled with pride, her mother's anger.