A/N: Readers: As a newcomer to this fandom, I really appreciate your wonderful support.

Guest reviewers: thanks so much for your comments. One of you asked about the middle eastern man. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about him. We'll learn more later on. I hope you don't mind the slow build-up. For now, Fitz and Olivia are getting to know each other better :)

MyPenCries: Thanks for reading and reviewing

Events from the past will be in italics. POV: Both Fitz and Livvie.

"Your turn." Fitz said. "What do you do for a living when you're not traveling half way across the world?"

"I'm a family law attorney."

It was a pleasant surprise that they were both lawyers. Although Fitz would never have chosen family law as his field of specialty since it seemed to require that attorneys also perform the duties of a counselor/therapist.

Right then, Cindy and her snack cart rolled the second time around heading back to the stewardess station.

Fitz took the opportunity to ask her for a refill.

"Our policy for serving alcohol is that all refills must be purchased with a credit card of your choice."

Fitz felt like snapping back that he'd never been charged on international flights. But then, bit his tongue and said nothing. He didn't want Olivia to think he was a cheapskate, thus he offered to pay for both of their drinks.

Olivia refused and quickly pulled out her own credit card.

Once their drinks were served and Cindy went back to her station, Fitz and Olivia continued their conversation.

"Well…family law" Fitz let out a sign and shook his head."That's a tough field. Finances and emotions don't mix well. There are no winners in divorce cases."

"Tell me about it. There was this case of a client of mine. She had a beautiful name: Rosa. From the minute I saw her walk into my office with her shoulders hanging low and a hunted look in her eyes, I knew I had to help her." She sipped her drink. "I couldn't let her walk out of my office and have another lawyer take her case." She shook her head. "There are way too many sharks out there…and she was just gonna be as good as dead."

"So what did you do?" He inquired, giving her his full attention.

"I took her in as a pro-bono." She said proudly. "Most of my colleagues disagreed with my decision, told me I would get a 'bad' reputation." No one takes charity cases in family law. However, Olivia had an inbred sense of justice that often took precedence over everything else.

"Bad reputation?" he repeated, amused. "You mean you would give them a bad rap for helping others? Maybe instigate a new wave of bad lawyer jokes?

"By the way, do you have any idea of how many lawyer jokes are already out there?"

"Yes, there are only three. The rest are true."He quickly answered.

"Hey, you beat me to the punch line," her voice was jovial and playful.

"Sorry…forgot to mention that I collect lawyer jokes and post them on the bulletin board in my office."

They nodded and shared a smile.

"So, any way, what happened with Rosa?"

"Her husband brought her from South America as a mail order bride…found her name and address in a catalog. This was back in the day before the bloom of the virtual age of e-mails, Google and sex tapes. Their romance actually consisted of handwritten letters just like in Colonial days," she smiled. "She was incredibly young and naive to say the least...she married him only a few days after meeting him."

"Let me guess…their happily ever after was actually laced with lies and deceit."

"Well…actually there were worse things that his philandering ways. Rosa was handpicked to be his little slave."

Rosa's rose colored glasses had prevented her from realizing that her knight in shinning armor was really a Dr. Jekill and Mr. Hide. For nearly 15 years she relied exclusively on her husband to drive her places. Moreover, she wasn't allowed to have friends or leave the house without his permission until the day she finally decided to toss the glasses and file for divorce.

"Eventually, Rosa came to realize that she was not the star of romance novel ...and that there would be no happy ending." Olivia said.

Olivia made it her mission to do everything in her power to make sure that Rosa got to stay in the family home, a decent amount of alimony (she had no job skills) and primary custody of the children.

Fitz took a deep breath. "I just went through a divorce myself…" he confided with ease as though he and Olivia had known each other for years.

"Oh," Olivia arched her brow.

"Nothing much to say… Just your typical War of the Roses except worse." He shrugged, rueful smile. Although, his divorce was not officially quite over yet since Mellie had yet to sign the marital settlement agreement, the point was that she had agreed to it (after months of back and forth negotiations) prior to him leaving the States. Thus, as far as he was concerned that chapter of his life was over.

"I've never been married, but my experience with clients has been that it's never easy," she offered. "Especially whenever there are children involved." She added this last comment matter of factly without appearing as though she was prying. The fact was that she cared and she found herself hoping against hope that there had been no children involved.

"My ex and I have a daughter…her name is Karen and she's the brightest kid I've ever seen. She's just started 4th grade, she skipped a grade . Not to brag or anything, but she's just everything any parent would want." He took a deep breath, and the brightness in his eyes dulled when he spoke again. "For years, we tried holding it together for her sake. It just never works, you know….sooner or later you reach the end of your rope."

His mind flashed back to the day when he and Mellie decided to divorce.

"You can't be serious!" fitz yelled. "It's absolutely out of the question!"

"I thought you would be happy for me…Stanford and Sons is a prestigious firm, it's just amazing that they would even consider hiring me for their firm!" Mellie said.

"Yeah…except…" he shook his head, exasperated. "We're not uprooting our family to Washington…and that's final!"

"Now, Fitz, don't you go Ricky Ricardo on me!"

Fitz ran his hand over the back of his neck. It was so like Mellie to divert his attention when he was flustered and frustrated. Granted that it was an attempt on her part to lightened up the mood, but he certainly didn't appreciate her insistence on equating their lives to those of a TV show.

Now Mellie was a huge fan of I love Lucy. She watched every episode ever made at least 10 times.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Mel! Our marriage is not an episode of I love Lucy. For starters, you're the antithesis of the American housewife."

"So that's what really bothers you, Fitz…" Mellie proclaimed with a triumphant tone. "Why don't you go ahead an admit it for once, that you just don't want me to be successful, It's just too much for your fragile male ego!"

It wasn't that he was opposed to her success. It was more like she was way too competitive for his liking.

"I'm sorry I'm not your Mr. McDreamy!" he said this in reference to Grey's Anatomy, another one of Mellie's favorite shows. Not that he watched the show much, but he knew the basics as Mellie was an avid fan. "But you're no Meredith either….if anything, your more like Addison Montgomery."

A quizzical look flashed through her features which quickly turned to outrage. She didn't like the implication. After all, Addison's marriage to Mr. McDreamy had ended in divorce.

"Fine, you wanna divorce me, well go ahead!" Mellie blurted before she could censor her own words.

"OK, if that's what you want, then, FINE!"

"FINE!" she shouted back.

Apparently, once the word 'divorce' starts getting tossed around like that there is no turning back.

Fitz and Mellie never reconciled after that and their respective lawyers took care of the rest.

"I'm sure Karen is adorable." Olivia stated which brought Fitz back to the present in two seconds flat. "I've never been married or had children…although, I'm open to the possibility." She remarked wanting him to understand that being a family law attorney had in no way embittered her against marriage and starting a family.

Right at that moment, the creepy man (whom she had nearly forgotten) was making his way back from the restroom back to his seat.

Olivia felt a shiver down her spine as she felt the stranger's eyes fixed on her the entire time.

A/N: Please review :)