Yes, yes, we know I'm terrible. I apologize profusely for not writing anything in awhile, but life is still pretty hectic. But I felt as though I needed to finish this because I haven't even addressed the happiness that was the Olitz season finale. But yeah, here's your update, please enjoy!

Chapter 17: Here Comes The Sun

"You are the sunshine of my life. That's why I'll always be around…" Fitz crooned into the surface of the bar. His head was resting on his arms, and everything was spinning. He knew he had drank too much, but it was the only way to numb the pain of possibly losing Olivia again.

He looked to his right, to see his best friend Chris chatting up a busty brunette. He lifted his head, placing his hand on Chris' shoulder.

"Chris, I miss Liv."

Chris smiled, speaking to Fitz through his teeth. "Fitzgerald, please not right now, Becca here was just telling me about how she's a Playboy Bunny." Chris may have had a polite tone, but Fitz knew his best friend well, and the look in his eyes said something along the lines of 'If you ruin this for me, I will personally make sure the entire tristate area knows you wore diapers until you were six'.

Fitz stood up, swaying slightly. "Well you guys have a great night, I gotta get out of here." He grabbed his jacket, and turned away from the bar.

Chris turned him around to face him. "Fitz, you sure you want to do this? I can just take you home."

"No it's fine. Besides, you're drunk anyway, and you've got a bunny to go play with. I'll call you tomorrow." He clapped Chris on the back as he made his way to the door.

He walked outside into the brisk New York air, the quietness of the city alerting him to how late it was. He'd have to walk five blocks in order to get a taxi at this hour.

"If you're looking for a taxi, you're not going to find one out here. They usually stop making the rounds over here around three. It's going on four." A woman spoke from Fitz' right. He turned, facing the petite blonde woman who exhaled her cigarette smoke.

"Well that's just great. I'll never get home now." Fitz ran his hand through his hair, desperate to see if Olivia was back at the apartment.

"My limo is right over there, if you want a ride."

"Oh no, I could never impose like that, thank you though."

"It's not an imposition if I asked you first uh-what's your name?"

"Sorry, I'm Fitz." He extended his hand to shake hers.

"Nice to meet you, Fitz. I'm Amanda. Amanda Tanner."

Silence stung the air as father and daughter were reunited in the same room for the first time in nearly twelve years. Neither of the two knew how to approach a proper conversation. There was so much to talk about, but no way to even begin the discussion they needed to have.

Eli looked at his daughter, her eyes wide with clear confusion, hurt, and millions of questions. He cleared his throat. "Grandma passed last year."

Olivia nodded, looking down. "I know. I was at the funeral."

"I was there, I didn't see you."

"That was the point."

"Olivia, we need to talk. There's so much you need to know, so much I've wanted to tell you for so long. I jus-"

"You just what? Wanted to protect me? As always, right dad? You never trusted me enough to be able to handle my own. You always sheltered me from everything. Look at our relationship; look at everything that has happened. For once, just be fucking honest with me."

"Olivia Carolyn Pope, you watch your mouth. I know I've made mistakes, just like any other father has done. But I've tried to shelter you because I love you. You think I wanted things to be this way? You think I wanted you to hate me?" Eli took a deep breath, his head in his hands.

"Your mother was an alcoholic, Olivia. We hid it well from you, using business trips as covers… when in reality, she was in and out of rehabs. We made sure she was there for every important date; gymnastics, debates, you name it. But she was battling an addiction, Liv. And it won out in the end."

Olivia stared mortified at her father, while she clutched at her chest. She felt as if her entire heart was shattering inside of her. All of her childhood memories were tainted. She looked back on running up to hug her mother after her gymnastic meets and her always smelling of peppermint. Getting picked up from debate team, and her mother smelling of peppermint. When her mother would be asleep on the couch and she would lean in to kiss her cheek, she always smelt of peppermint.

"The peppermint smell that was always around mom…what was it?" Olivia whispered.

"It was Schnapp's."

Olivia felt her stomach churn. She didn't know how to react. She didn't know what to say. Her father watched the different emotions appear on her face; hurt, anger, heartbroken.

"Liv, I only ever wanted to protect you. I'm so sorry I kept it from you for all of these years, and I'm so sorry you had to find out in general. I never wanted to hurt you."

Olivia stood up and ran over to her father. She threw her arms around his neck, just as a broken sob escaped her. He held his baby girl close to him, letting her cry out everything she was feeling, all the while murmuring into her hair that everything was going to be okay, that he wasn't going anywhere.

"Well, this is me." Fitz said as Amanda's driver pulled up to his building. He prayed Olivia was in his bed, waiting up for him to get home. He didn't even care if she yelled at him, he just wanted him and his sweet baby to be okay.

"What?" Amanda said.

"I said this is me. Like this is my apartment building."

"No, after that. Sweet baby. What is that?" she asked.

Fitz hadn't realized he spoke aloud. "Oh, uh. My girlfriend. Well, I hope she's still my girlfriend."

"What'd you do, cheat?"

"What? No! Why do women always assume that men cheat?"

"Probably because they do? I mean don't get me wrong, women cheat too, but men definitely do it more. "

"Oh really?" Fitz challenged, "And what man broke your heart that makes you feel like you can sit here in your stupid, fancy, rich limo and accuse a man of cheating?"

"Her name is Lisa, and I'm the one who cheated on her. She broke my heart when I thought she would take me back the last time, and she didn't."

"Oh…I'm sorry." Fitz said, not realizing that she was a lesbian. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Maybe some other time. Me and my stupid, fancy, rich limo have to be making our way home." Fitz winced a little at his words being repeated back to him. "Want to get lunch or something later this week?"

"Yeah, sure, that sounds great." He gave her his number, and said goodbye.

Olivia paced back and forth in Fitz' living room, staring between the door and the clock every 2 seconds. It was 4:32 in the morning, and she hadn't heard anything from Fitz. She was worried about him.

She knew that he meant well by talking to her father, she could see that now. After Olivia finished crying in her father's arms, he told her about his visit from Fitz, and about how he thought that she had met the perfect man for her. He told her that she needed to let those walls of hers break down, because Fitz wouldn't hurt her. And he was right.

Olivia's attention went to the front door, and as she stood up, Fitz walked into the apartment. He closed the door behind him, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw Olivia in the living room.

The two stared at each other for a moment. Olivia opened her mouth, whispered out a choked "I'm sorry", and in two swift strides, Fitz captured her lips with his. He pulled away, his eyes filled with tears. "I'm so sorry, Livvie. I shouldn't have talked to your father without your permission. We're a team. We make our decisions together. "

"I'm not used to having someone on my team." Olivia whispered. "I'm not used to someone love me so earnestly and wholly. I sometimes still can't even believe that I'm lucky enough to have you in my life. After all of this time. I just feel as if one day it's all going to disappear."

Fitz took her face in both of his hands, kissing her forehead. He looked into her wide, brown eyes, becoming even more mesmerized than he ever thought possible. "Olivia Carolyn Pope," he started, "The love I have for you flows through my veins, and radiates within me. There's no way in hell it's ever going to disappear. I love everything about you. I love the way you tilt your head when you're trying to figure out something. I love that when you don't have to go into work, you never wear matching socks. I love your stunning eyes, I lo-"

"Fitzgerald, no one loves brown eyes. They're boring."

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong. They're warm, and kind, and have little specks of gold in them. And they absolutely captivate me."

She smiled then, looking down, realizing that there was never going to be a time in her life when the man in front of her was ever not going to love her for her.

"I love you so much, you know that? And thank you for making me talk to my dad. I know that I can be stubborn, and I know my temper is nothing to take lightly, but thank you for knowing me better than I know myself. I'm sorry for flipping out on you. My father thinks very highly of you, by the way." She wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning up to kiss his collarbone.

"Fitz, you smell like alcohol, where were you?"

With a sigh, he told her about his night with Chris, getting more and more disappointed in himself by the second once he realized how long Olivia was waiting for him.

"I'm sorry, Liv."

"Honey, don't apologize. The only thing out of that story that concerns me is you drinking to solve your problems. I would never have forgiven myself if something happened to you, especially if alcohol was involved. Not after everything that I found out tonight. No more problem drinking, deal?"

"Deal." He brought her down onto his lap on the couch, kissing her lightly. "Now, I don't know about you, but I am all kinds of exhausted."

She chuckled lightly, nodding her agreement with him. "But make no mistake, Ms. Pope," he said into her ear as he lifted her up to head to bed, "when I regain my energy, I plan to wear you out."

"Liv?" Fitz called out. He had been out at the nearest hardware store, grabbing more supplies. He and Olivia had been spending the day working on the house. "Liv?" he called out again, gaining no reply. He walked into the living room and was met with one of the best sights he could have ever seen in his life. Olivia was in a blue tank top and her overalls, her hair covered by a navy blue bandana, painting the living room wall and singing along to Here Comes The Sun.

He broke out into the widest smile, unable to truly comprehend just how he finally got to be at this point in his life; the point when he was genuinely 100% happy with everything. He took out his phone and snapped a picture, just as Olivia had stood up on her tiptoes to reach a spot on the wall. She heard the camera shutter, and turned around.

"There you are," she said with a smile, crossing over to him. "Did you find everything okay?"

"Yeah, the neighborhood is pretty easy to get around. And everyone's so nice." He leaned down to kiss her, and then he really kissed her. When they finally pulled apart, a little breathless, Olivia played with the hair at the nape of his neck. "And what was that for?" she asked.

"I'm just so happy we're here, right now, in this moment. After all of this time, after everything that's happened. We're just in such a great place. And I love you."

"I love you too, now come on. I'm hungry and I made us sandwiches." Olivia ran off to the kitchen, leaving Fitz laughing in the living room.

The End

Well, that's the end, for now. Depending on how you guys liked the story, I may make a sequel. At least, I've been thinking about it. I just felt like this was a good spot to end this one. They're happy, they're moving in together, and they promised to work through everything together as a team. As always, your reviews are loved and appreciated, and please let me know if you guys would like a sequel!