Part 37

Innocent Party

"Muuummieeeeeee" he squeals excitedly, running towards her with a huge sheet of sugar paper gripped in his hand… "Mummy look!"

The smile on his face is to die for, so much so that the current thoughts that were circling in her head are momentarily forgotten, as she happily gets swept up in the euphoria that is known as Josh. "Hello my gorgeous boy, what have you got there?!"

He's keen… "It's my picture, I painted it all by myself!" He opens it up as he eagerly goes on to explain… "Today, we had to paint our favourite things, so I painted…" He doesn't need to explain it any further…she's caught on immediately, and it silently breaks her heart. "…Daddy, and that's you…" he smiles brightly, "You have the long brown hair…"

"Oh yes, I can see that, wow I love the detail…"

He beams in response, as he continues proudly… "And that's Grandpa, with his police badge on… and Grandma with her doctor's bag and her cooking spoon!"

Olivia can't help but chuckles at that, "So why does Grandma have a cooking spoon, and I don't?"

"Because… she's just cooked me some blueberry muffins… see, and they're there…" His points out; his little finger pressed against his three year old interpretation of a plate of muffins… "They're next to my police car on the table!"

"My goodness, baby this is amazing! Wait till Daddy see's it!"

"He can put it on the fridge!" He advises.

"Yes, I agree, but we might have to make some space for it first though!"

"Yes, because it's big… But can I show Grandma and Grandpa first?"

Her heart sinks. "I'm not so sure Josh…"

"Ooooh pleeeeeeease, I want to show them!"

She feels awful having to do this…"Sweetheart not tonight, okay?"

"So tomorrow?" he asks hopefully... And it's his big blue eyes, round as saucers looking up at her pleadingly that completely does her in, making her want to forego the restriction altogether and take him to see his grandparents. But she knows Fitz will not approve, it's been almost three weeks since the fallout and since then he's put his foot down on the matter of Josh seeing his grandparents. Although he did take Josh to see Jerry at the ice-cream parlour a few days ago; poor Jerry, she thinks, like Josh, they were the innocent parties here, completely caught in the middle of this fray and it wasn't fair on either of them. The thing is, although she's aware that Fitz is doing it in support of her, and she loves the fact that he's willing to fight for her, however she does feel that he's going about it the wrong way. She's told him as much, but he's not in the right frame of mind to listen, he's still very much hurt by his mother's actions, and it seems he's chosen to express it through his unwillingness to bend. Much like Anne it seems.

She looks back down at Josh, and realises she's got to do something about it and soon. This cannot carry on this way! When push comes to shove, Joshua simply adores his grandparents, which comes as no surprise as they have been a major fixture in his life up until now and he misses them like crazy, and as much as Fitz would deny it right now, he needs his parents too. So she's made up her mind, she will talk to Fitz tonight. Because out of all the people involved here, she knows all too well how difficult it is to make amends when a situation like this is left to fester for too long… And she refuses to let that happen here. Not to this family!

No, she had to fix it.

Decision made, she picks Josh up and gives him a squeeze. "Pumpkin, I'll take you there tomorrow, I promise… After I speak to Daddy tonight!"

"Yaaaaay", he smiles brightly, before kissing her on the cheek… "I love you mummy"

"I love you too baby. Now, let's get home and get supper started."

xxxxxx

Exhausted Fitz lets himself into the flat… It had been a long and trying shift and he was grateful to be home. Aware of the hour, he tiptoes in, cautious not to wake Olivia or Joshua from their slumber, who funnily enough are found fast asleep on the sofa, with the TV watching them. They're the picture of peace and contentment; he's almost reluctant to disturb them.

He sighs thoughtfully. It's moments like these where he wishes his mother could just see them together, to witness how natural they are together… And more importantly, for his mother to see how much it means to him to have them both here with him… But he can't even go there right now, just the thought of his mother's point blank refusal to understand, gets him so fired up… He shakes the thought from his mind, not willing to let it plague this precious scene. After a while he detangles Josh from Olivia's arms, and without waking him takes him to his room and tucks him in. "Sleep tight little man" he whispers lovingly leaving a kiss on his head, before heading back to Olivia.

"Hey you…"

"Hey beautiful", he grins, pleasantly surprised to see her up, as he leans in and kisses her on her lips.

Eventually they part… "Hmmm, that was nice," she breathes, her lips mere inches away from his, itching to go back for another taste… but as tempting as it would be to do that, she realises now is not the time to self-indulge, not when she had other pressing matters to address first. Opting for a another quick peck instead, she then swiftly manoeuvres herself from the sofa and Fitz's advance and heads to the kitchen. "I left a plate in the microwave for you; I'll heat it up for you!"

Undeterred Fitz follows her, placing his hands on her hips and closing the distance between them, making his desires known… "If you ask me, you were doing a pretty good job of heating things up from the sofa…" he tells her seductively, leaving a trail of body melting kisses along her neck… "Fitz… stop…" she sighs in protest, although she feels herself rapidly falling and succumbing to his charms… Stop this now Olivia- she tells herself… Oh god, but it feels so good… Olivia if you don't stop this now you'll never tell him… Hmmmm yes, right there, Oh Fitz… Josh needs this Olivia!

"I promised Joshua that I'll take him to his Nana's tomorrow". She suddenly blurts out.

He freezes. "What!?"

Well that successfully destroyed the mood.

"What do you mean you promised Joshua?"

She turns around and faces him head on… "Just that, he wanted to show his Nana and Papa the picture he painted in nursery and I didn't have the heart to tell him no…"

He steps back, "Olivia, you had no right promising him that…"

"Fitz, we can't carry on like this… Joshua misses them and I'm not prepared to stand in the way of him seeing them any longer."

"Well I don't want you taking him!" Fitz argues, unwilling to fold, but Olivia is determined to persevere on.

"Well I'm not about to break a promise to our son, if that's what you're asking me to do!"

He almost laughs… Oh she knew exactly what she was doing when she promised Joshua that... "Let me ask you this, why did you even bother to run it past me, knowing full well that regardless of what I had to say, you would be taking Josh to see them?"

She takes a deep breath... "I ran it past you, because I hoped you'd come with us…"