A/N: Shortish chapter, but I'll make up for it later. Just wanted to get something out on this story.
Hope you enjoy.
Two weeks pass.
The school year is days from starting and diocese has yet to make a decision about Fitz's position. He has a legacy at St. Gabriel's. One that consists of pulling the school back from the brink of collapse due to under enrollment and low testing scores. Most in the community consider him a semi savior. He'd been able to turn the school around and pump some life into it, returning it to its elite status nearly seven years ago. He's tried and tested, but he also knows values are a factor in his position. He knows that the school prides itself on upholding those values and he's actively stepping away from them. Yet he still has hope. And if the decision isn't in his favor, he knows he'll be okay; sad at first, but eventually okay.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Olivia asks. She slides into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.
They're in her apartment enjoying an early morning, one of their last as the school year comes to a beginning.
"Just thinking. The diocese hasn't made their decision yet and Father Beene refuses to tell me if they're being swayed in one direction or another."
Olivia nods. "Do you think you can trust him? He doesn't approve of us and I'm worried he might be poisoning them against you."
"He's a man of the cloth, Livvie, do you think he'd really do that?"
She sighs, eyes averting his prompting Fitz to frown. He knows she's got a point. Father Beene, Cyrus, is a hard read. Fitz's still has yet to figure out why he's so disapproving of he and Olivia's relationship.
"Did they say they'd have a decision made before the 28th? We start school in what…six days?"
"No, they haven't, unfortunately. I'm still in the process of leaving the rectory, too."
"Have you found a place?"
"Not yet. They gave me until the middle of September. I'm not wanting for money, but it feels weird to think I'll be living alone soon. Before joining the clergy, I had my family and now…the idea of being alone…"
"When I moved out, I made Harrison stay with me for the first few months until I could stay on my own." Her fingers tug the curls at the nape of his neck.
Fitz runs his tongue over his lips and smiles. "I wish you'd reconsider moving in with me."
Olivia chortles. "I told you, I'm thinking about it. We've been doing this for a year, but things are rocky and I don't want to push anything."
"You're scared, Livvie. I get it. I know you're all in, but you're still scared. We can table this for later." He understands her fear, but silently promises himself that he'll bring up this topic again. He's in this for the long haul and wants to build a home with her.
She smiles at him, leans forward and presses her lips to his briefly. "Want to go get somethings for breakfast or go grab breakfast?"
"I could always have you for breakfast?" Fitz suggests, his lips from her neck and he draws circles on her pulse point, smiling as she shudders in his hold.
"I'm serious, Fitz. I'm hungry and instead of going out for dinner last night, you—"
"Ate here," he says, a wicked grin crossing his face as his left hand creeps beneath her shorts until they reach the ban of her underwear. He pushes the cotton aside and brushes his fingers over her swelling clit.
She wriggles in his hold. "Don't start – oh – thing. Yes. I'm – shit – oh – hungry."
"So am I." He shifts her out of his lap and guides her down onto the couch. He licks his lips, fingers finding the tops of her shorts and sliding both them and her underwear down her legs.
/
They walk the open air, pop-up fresh-fruit market minutes away from the red line hand-in-hand. Olivia's cheeks swell and she glows with happiness. It's a warm day, but a comfortable one. The normal humidity of DC is absent, allowing Olivia to wear her curls down and out. She never thought she'd be here with him. She never thought she'd be in love again. After he things with Edison, she'd given up on love. But it found her when she least expected it.
"You okay?" Fitz asks, squeezing her hand. He looks down, the sun shining above his head and gives him a halo.
Olivia returns his smile and nods. She thinks about his offer from earlier – to move in with him. She's fucking terrified by the thought, but still wonders what it'd be like to come home to him every day.
"I'm—" the words stop as she catches eyes with a stranger, a man who carries a newspaper in hand. The man's eyes drop and he laughs, holding up a folded newspaper and gives Fitz a thumbs up.
Olivia turns to look at her boyfriend. Fitz's expression matches hers. "Did you know him?"
"I don't think so?"
"Why do you think—" His words get caught off as a young kid, probably in his mid to late teens walks up to him and holds out his hand.
Olivia watches as Fitz's eyebrow upticks and his fingers flex, but he doesn't reach for the kid's hand.
"Fitz?"
"Alright dude!" The kid says, winking and giving Fitz air finger guns.
They push through the market and several more people look their way, the looks on their face oscillating somewhere between admiration and disapproval. Olivia's stomach tightens. She draws her eyebrows together and pulls the cloth grocery bag hanging over her left shoulder tighter.
"What's…" Olivia starts, but stops as a woman approaches them.
She's a small woman with olive skin and long brown hair. She looks at Olivia with scorn and contempt, shaking her head. "Chica diablo. La mujerzuela."
Olivia's mouth drops open. "Pérdon, por favor? Me estás hablando a mí?"
The woman scowls. "Peor para ti. Debería darte vergüenza!" She shoves a newspaper into Fitz's chest, "Que dios te perdon por tus pecados," and storms off.
Olivia and Fitz exchange worried glances as Fitz grabs the paper to prevent it from falling to the concrete.
"What'd she say to you?" Fitz asks.
"She called me the devil and, and a whore…" Olivia's stomach twisted. "Said that I should be ashamed and…that God…"
Fitz lets go of her hand and unfolds the newspaper the woman shoved into his hands.
"You've got to be shitting me," Fitz growls.
"What?" Sweat buds at Olivia's hairline. She frowns, stretching on her tippy toes to see what's in his hands. Once she does, her heart drops. There, on the front page of The Washington Daily News, a DC tabloid, is a photo of Fitz in his clerical clothing. In the top left corner is a small box, a picture of Fitz and Olivia in a heated lip lock outside of her apartment building. The headline reads Forbidden Love: Beloved D.C Priest Finds Love – or Lust – in DC Streets, pg 16-18.
Fitz frantically flips to the pages on the cover.
"Beloved D.C Priest Father Fitzgerald Grant III, 41, former husband of deceased D.C Mayoral Candidate Millicent Grant, and son of former California Governor Fitzgerald Grant II, seems to have found himself in quite a predicament with 24-year-old Olivia Pope. Miss Pope is a former Capitol Hill intern, having worked for Senator Edison Davis a few years back. Instead of pursuing the hill, however, Miss Pope left her position for reasons undisclosed. Sources says that she was in love with Senator Davis and when he rebuffed her advances, Miss Pope tried—" Fitz stops reading. Olivia's mouth drops open and tears immediately swell.
Fitz balls the paper up and throws it on the ground, stomping on it. A few more people look their way and Olivia lets go of his hand. She pivots on her heels and hurries away. Tears slip down her cheeks and she wipes them away as she furiously moves towards the metro station.
"Livvie, Liv, Olivia!" Fitz calls from behind her.
Olivia slows, but doesn't stop. "I just want to go home, Fitz," she says.
"I know, I know. We can go," he says. "I'm going to find out who did this."