AN: Im without wifi at my house, so for a while I will be updating several chapters at a time. Lots of changes coming up... Enjoy!
By time the girls gathered Fitz from off the floor and answered the phone everyone was ready to go their separate ways. Maya had called wondering what their dinner plans were and Claudia left to go pick her up, Cammie went off into the study, that would be her room while she was in Providence, typing furiously on her cell phone, Olivia, who was still exhausted went into the bedroom to grab some more sleep until her mother arrived, Fitz stayed with her until she fell asleep, than made his way back into the living room to straighten up the couch and grade some papers.
Fitz was nearly finished with his grading , Zorro was snuggled comfortably on his lap, and he figured he should finish them as soon as he could. The Pope women would keep him busy. Cammie eventually surfaced from the study and flopped herself down on the chair as she swiped around on her iPad. They sat in comfortable silence waiting for the chaos to erupt. As soon as he set down his last paper, Claudia came bargaining in with an uncomfortable looking Maya behind her. It occurred to Fitz that this was the first time she had been in her daughters home, her home for four years.
"Hey, come on in, make yourself at home, Liv is still asleep." Fitz told them as he noticed them both looking around.
"Tell me you did not buy my sister a cat." Claudia deadpanned at the sight of Fitz with the undersized cat on his lap.
"I didn't buy your sister a cat. She stole him, well reduced him, from the neighbor." Told her with a straight face and without a hint of a joke.
"She what!?" Maya asked, shocked. From Michael and Claudia ridiculous behavior was to be expected but Olivia was the easy child. She was probably the easy child because Claudia and her grandma had done most of the child rearing, but Maya quickly purged the thought from her mind.
"They were neglecting him, and they gave him a stupid name. Olivia has been taking care of him pretty much since they got him. She decided to keep him and since they didn't even notice he was gone until weeks later I couldn't really fault her for it." Fitz quickly defended Olivia when he saw that Maya's eyebrows had met her hairline. Claudia regarded the cat carefully than reached out to pet him. He was so deprived of affection for so long any chance he got he would take. He was immediately on Claudia's lap purring and looking up at her.
"What's your name furball?" Claudia cooed at him.
"Livvie named him Zorro." Fitz said shocked, he'd only seen Claudia soften to Olivia. He didn't expect her to take to the animal.
"That's a dumb name for a cat." Cammie finally weighed in looking up from her iPad.
"Trust me when I say it's better than what it was."
"You said Olivia was sleeping? Claudia don't you think we should wake her so we can make dinner plans?" Maya said. It was early, only five o'clock, but she knew getting all three girls out of the house would take a while, especially after they spent half an hour arguing about what to eat.
"Fitz you should wake her." Claudia said still snuggling with Zorro.
"Yeah me and what army? You do it. She won't hit you." Fitz said, knowing Olivia was a bear when you tried to wake her. He'd tried a few times only to get a punch or kick to the gut. He had no problem waiting her out.
"Wuss, you've got a foot on her and you're still scared of little olly!" Claudia mocked hoping that would do it.
"I'm terrified!" Fitz freely admitted almost with a bit of pride. He loved that Olivia was so formidable.
"What are you terrified of Bee?" Olivia walked out, still in the clothes she wore to sleep. The Rolling Stones t-shirt Fitz had gotten her on their first official date and a pair of his boxers rolled up. She was still dazed from sleep and her hair was matted down on her left side.
"You." Fitz admitted with a grin in her direction, she looked adorable all frazzled and sleepy eyed.
"I knew I picked a smart man." Olivia said as she sat down and curled into his chest. She was always extra cuddly when she was sleepy. Fitz stayed firm not really knowing what her mother would think, but than Olivia nuzzled her face into his chest and made those cute little sleepy noises that drive him crazy and he couldn't have stopped his arms from wrapping around her if he tried.
When Zorro realized Olivia was in the room his quickly abandoned Claudia and curled into Olivia's side.
"He knows his momma I guess." Claudia said mildly offended at his blatant disinterest in her. Maya finally sat down stiffly in the chair across from Cammie.
"We were just discussing dinner Olivia. Are there any restaurants you recommend?" Olivia righted herself and thought about her options. Some how food had completely slipped her mind. Her mother wouldn't settle for take out and she couldn't go to a restaurant with Fitz, which she hadn't exactly explained to her mother. Claudia caught her eye and immediately recognized the problem.
"Liv, Fitz told me you've been cooking more. Why don't you make us dinner tonight?" Claudia said causally.
"Or we could go to that hibachi place, it's pretty nice. Everyone gets their own room." Fitz suggested pointedly knowing how exhausted Olivia was. He didn't want her to worry about cooking and cleaning.
"Cammie preference?" Maya asked.
"Hibachi or Liv's grilled cheese." Olivia, who had relaxed back into Fitz, knew her mother wouldn't accept grilled cheese.
"Hibachi it is, it's called Irizumi right? I'll make reservations." Olivia went to pick up her phone and noticed a few missed calls from Abby. Everyone went their separate ways to get dressed expect for Fitz and Maya, who were both ready. The comfortable silence that filled the room when Cammie was present was gone and Fitz immediately felt like he owed to woman sitting in front of him an explanation or something.
"Mrs. Pope I..." Fitz started without really knowing what he was going to say.
"Fitzgerald, you should never start a sentence unless you know how you're going to finish it." Maya condescended to him, than immediately regretted it. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me. You can call me Maya by the way." She didn't offer the familiarity out of kindness towards Fitz, she offered because she didn't want to be reminded of the monster she had married.
"Maya, I love your daughter very much and I want you to know that, because I'm sure you're going to discover some things that Liv and I have decided that you won't agree with."
"I already know you're her TA. I also know that Olivia is brilliant and doesn't have any problems earning her grades. I also know that you two have an arrangement with the professor. I'm not concerned about that. What I am concerned about is my child buying a house. A very big very expensive house. With someone she's known less than a year. With someone she didn't bother introducing to the family. With someone she isn't in a committed relationship with." Of course Maya knew. She some how knew everything. Fitz briefly wondered if she knew about his mother, but he pushed the concern aside for now.
"Olivia and I are in a committed relationship. We wouldn't be taking this step if we weren't."
"You're married?"
"No."
"You're engaged?"
"No."
"Then how are you committed to my child?"
"Olivia doesn't want to get married. We've discussed it at length. I would marry her tonight, frankly I would have married her after our first date. It's not what she wants, and I just want her." Fitz told her emphatically, hoping the conversation would end before Olivia came out, she would be livid.
"It's not a guarantee." Maya said not accepting what he was saying.
"Neither is marriage in case you haven't noticed." Fitz told her, regurgitating Olivia's words, not his own.
"I'm not going to interfere. I just got Claudia back in my life and I want Olivia back as well. I can see that trying to interfere here wouldn't help with either if my daughters. I'm putting you on notice. You think my husband is an animal? I'm a monster. Don't ever forget that." Fitz simply nodded. He appreciated that Maya wasn't going to try and interfere with his relationship. Anymore than that was irrelevant. He would choose Olivia every time and he was more than certain Olivia would choose him over Maya and Eli if it came to that. After a few more minutes of silence Olivia walked out.
"Hey bee do you know where my book went?" She asked leaning over the back of the couch to fix the tag that seemed was always hanging out his t-shirt or sweaters.
"I stuck all three on the night table." Olivia was always reading more than one book, currently she was reading a Ben Franklin biography, Brave New World, and the Evolution of Mara Dyer, the latter if which she hadn't been able to put down after she started reading it the night before. She fell asleep reading it and he'd woken up with it making an impression on his back. She strutted back into her room and came out with Mara Dyer and her cream colored Prada tote.
"Olivia you don't need to bring a book to dinner. It's rude." Olivia gave her a flabbergasted look.
"I'm 21 years old. It's a little to late to try your hand parenting now. And I've brought a book with me everywhere I go since I was eight." Olivia snapped at her. Maya put her head down having been out in her place twice in the span of fifteen minutes was not familiar territory.
"You're right Olivia. I apologize." Maya conceded. Her pride would have to take a hit if she really wanted her daughters back. Michael was neutral towards her and probably always would be, but having his trust would be enough for her, her daughters on the other hand would be more difficult. Olivia raised an eyebrow in Fitz's direction to which he shrugged and gave her a hopeful look. He was even more relieved she had missed Maya's earlier speech after hearing her snap.
"I should call Abby back." Olivia said peering at her phone.
"Is she still upset about David?"
"I think she's doing better." Abby had gone camping with David. After about three hours of them building the tent Abby realized she would have to go to the bathroom outside. She finally acquiesced and ended up with poison ivy where no one wants poison ivy. She and David got into a fight, which quickly escalated to a break up, that ended with Olivia and Fitz driving out with a bottle of calamine lotion and tequila to pick her up.
"She seems fine with it, I think she's just bored and lonely, which in Abby's case is bad news."
"Maybe you should invite her to dinner." Maya offered throwing her an olive branch. Or at least she hoped. Olivia paused, considering the suggestion. She figured she'd already invited Abby to spend time with her family for Thanksgiving so having a quick bite out wouldn't do any damage.
"Okay I'll go give her a call." Olivia said carefully eyeing her mother. While Olivia walked into the kitchen to make her phone call Cammie and Claudia bellowed for Fitz to come into the study. He excised himself and went off to find them.
"Did you bring it?" He asked excited. After realizing his surprise for Christmas was ruined he had another idea, but he needed help.
"Yeah, here's on picture of Grams wearing it, here's one from the police evidence, you'll have to thank Huck for that." Claudia said handing him what he'd requested in a Manila envelope.
"And you still think you can sketch it before you leave?" Fitz looked towards Cammie.
"Yeah I've had that ring in my head as long as I can remember. It makes me sick that the police wouldn't release it. Made Liv sick too." She told him, with a bitter tone. Because technically Olivia's 'murder' is still open and unsolved the police refused to release the belongings found on her 'body.' One of which was her grandmother's engagement ring that she wore around a chain on her neck, it was too big to fit on her finger. For Christmas Fitz was going to have the ring remade for her.
When he asked Claudia for her input and help she immediately started a group text between herself, Fitz and Cammie to make sure the result was identical to the original.
I hope she doesn't get mad."
"If she does we will both kick her ass." Claudia told him seriously, and Cammie nodded empathically.
"Hey guys Abby should be here in a few minutes..." Olivia said trailing off when she saw the three of them huddled together looking guilty, "what's going on?" She asked with a hint of amusement at their sheepish faces.
"Just showing them some uh house plans?" Fitz said more like a question. He was going to be a lawyer. He could lie and justify just about anything, except to Olivia. She laughed a little,
"Okay well if you guys leave me with mom for much longer I'm going to rip her hair out. She's been here less than twenty four hours and she already insulted my hair and wardrobe twice." Cammie snorted not at all surprised,
"You both realize I deal with that constantly. Mom and Aunt Maya just have me left to harass since you're both off on your own," she told them in an unaffected voice, as if it was just a fact of life.
"They say those things to you!" Olivia asked furious, it was one thing for her mother to complain about her appearance, but she wouldn't allow it to happen to Cammie.
"Olly calm down. You know how they are, 'oh you're wearing that' I ignore them and look forward to college like every other teenager."
"You could stand to give Mom a bit of a break Liv." Olivia gave Claudia a scathing look, but refused to comment. She wouldn't get into a fight with her sister over their mother. Fitz sensing Olivia was at her wits end attempted to change the subject.
"Do you guys still want to go out tonight after dinner? We can go to shark bar or Beaumont. Get Cammie used to college life so when she comes next fall she doesn't get drunk and fall out a window at her first party." Fitz asked Claudia and Olivia who were both eyeing each other.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence. You really shouldn't piss off the only Pope that doesn't call you flyboy." Cammie said appreciating his effort, both in diffusing the tension and wanting to introduce her to Providence.
"The Beaumont is our best bet. Shark Bar is having a theme night according to Abby." Olivia told him, never letting her eyes leave Claudia. The last time they all went to Shark Bar on a theme night, the theme was retro country night. Olivia and Abby sat disgruntled at the bar doing shots of tequila, that is until Abby jumped on one of the stools and started singing Like a Virgin at the top of her lungs. They left shortly after that.
Fitz and Cammie exchanged looks trying to figure out ways to diffuse the tension. He had no intentions of getting between the two. There was no way for him to win. Thankfully the doorbell rang and Olivia grabbed Fitz's hand and pulled him behind her to answer to door. Cammie and Claudia followed behind them grabbing their purses in the process.