A/N: Thank you for all the feedback.

Chapter 2

Fitz almost missed the turn off that would lead him to the road back to his building. He couldn't shake the image of her eyes, and he had a feeling that was unfamiliar to him. He wanted to see her again. He took a deep breath, rubbed his hand down his face as he sat through a red light, and gave his head a slight shake.

"Fuck is wrong with you Fitzgerald?" he asked himself. "You just dropped someone off at a food bank in the most dangerous section of this city", his thoughts were getting the best of him. Before the light turned green, he looked to his left, out the window. He never thought there would be a person he would be unable to say no to, but Olivia Pope proved that wrong.

The car behind him honked its loud horn, waking Fitz up from the daydream to see the light green. He gazed in his rearview mirror, giving the driver a death stare, decided against a confrontation and continued up the road.

Ringing from the phone startled him a bit and he was able to find the button to accept the call. He truly had no idea how he found it. "This is Fitz." He answered.

"Boss, it's Justin, I don't know if you're still on your way. I wanted you to know I was able to locate someone to look at the pipe. I don't know if…." Justin took a deep swallow. "It's I hope this can be mended, we have about two hours to spare before the wedding party….."

"I'll be there in five minutes, ok, Justin. Jeez, hope this guy is competent. Is here there now?"

"Yes, sir, he's here. He came within five minutes of me calling him. He's actually…"

"He's actually going to charge an arm and a leg, I'm sure. Don't make any deals with him, do you hear me. He was probably so easy to get because he's going to con you. I'll be there shortly."

At least Justin found someone, now he had to go and not be cheated out of thousands of dollars when it's something just some duct tape can fix. He couldn't let anything go wrong with this wedding. The media was all over it, and FTG banquet hall was going to be front and center.

"Fitzgerald, not again." He could hear his father's voice. "Not another fuck up." His father was trying to retire, but Fitz had a hard time staying out of the media spotlight. They followed him around, waiting for him to mess up, and Fitz didn't disappoint.

This had to work out tonight, to put Fitz in the right direction. The sooner his father was able to retire, the sooner Fitz gets what's rightfully his. He deserved to be in charge, and he wasn't going to let a water pipe burst stop this. Fact is, he would pay this guy Justin got anything he wanted, he just couldn't let on that he would.

When the CEO of Colony banks made a personal call to Fitz 8 months ago, Fitz knew he was on his way to big time. Mr. Dyson wanted the perfect wedding venue for his daughter, and he was counting on the Grant name to deliver this for him. Fitz assured him he wouldn't be disappointed.

"Now, I don't have to go through Big Gerry for this do I Junior?" Mr. Dyson asked. "Because I want him to think he has a competent son. I can easily give my business to Ballard Entertainment, that's not an issue."

Fitz hated to be called Junior, despised it, actually, but he took a deep breath and continued. "No, no, of course not. I already have the materials and information heading out to you. I will have my best caterer on hand, and it will be a beautiful wedding, you have my word on that."

"I'd like to take your word, Junior, but reading about your past, I'm a bit skeptical. I am only calling because Big Gerry and my brother went to Yale together. I am not making a mistake, am I?"

Fitz wanted to slam the phone down, tell the guy to fuck off and go on with Ballard entertainment, but he knew better, especially with this guy throwing around his father's name.

"Sir, I will assure you again, it will be the perfect reception." Fitz was grinding his teeth now.

Now, here it is, eight months later. The big wedding day upon us and a damn water pipe decides to burst in his newly renovated building. He wanted to punch his fist through the window, just as Felix predicted, but being a driver now, he couldn't.

Fitz hopped out of the car, which is what he tried to do a half hour ago. He looked into the back seat, just to be sure no other person jumped in thinking he was an UBER. He was a bit disappointed not to see her beautiful brown eyes smiling back at him, but he had work to tend to.

Whatever this guy wanted he would get, Fitz just hoped the guy didn't realize that. Fitz looked up as he was walking, taking a deep breath, of course this guy would know. He was called in on a Saturday before a high profile wedding to fix a pipe, Fitz was going to pay dearly.

"Hate wasting money on a handyman." He said out loud. "Sebastian will pay for this." He whispered under his breath as he approached this guy and Justin.

"Hello, sir, Mr. Grant, I am Ramzi. I just looked at the pipe and…"

"Yeah, how much….and take it easy ok, I know the wedding is high profile, doesn't mean you have to degrade yourself and charge over what it should be. I have my own guy, who will let me know if you pulled anything today."

"Sir, the guy is doing us a favor", Justin chimed in. "Just hear him out, ok." Fitz's tone made the young manager embarrassed, but Fitz needed to hear what Ramzi had to say.

Ramzi led Fitz to the pipe. "See here." Ramzi was pointing. "There was a loose screw here. I tightened the screw, and I was able to deter the water supply from this pipe to this one over here." Fitz watched as Ramzi pointed to the other pipe. Fitz didn't hear a word the guy was saying, he was just waiting on the amount.

"Anyway." Ramzi continued. "This pipe is fine, with the screw being tightened, it's just in need of a thorough inspection, just to be sure. Justin told me you have a wedding here tonight. I don't anticipate any further problems, but I will be here momentarily if one arises. He has my number. I can assure you; nothing will go wrong tonight."

Fitz squinted at the guy. He nodded his head. "Ok, and how much is this going to cost me, minus your assurance?"

"Nothing. Just maybe some dinners so my wife doesn't have to cook tonight or tomorrow. I'd like to give her a break. Perhaps your cook can whip up something, and we'll call it even."

Fitz, for once in his life, was speechless. He turned to Justin, who had a bit of a smirk on his face. "Where did you say you found this guy?"

"The baby shower that just ended, the woman who ran the shower, Olivia Pope, she gave me Ramzi's number."

Fitz took a double take. "Say that again?"

"Olivia Pope, she was the one who had the baby shower before for her best friend, she gave me his card, she knew the pipe had burst. She asked if I needed her help cleaning up the water. That's when she gave me Ramzi's card." Justin handed the card to Fitz.

Fitz took the card and looked at Ramzi. "How do you know Olivia Pope?" He said, looking down at the card and then back up, "Ramzi Fawad?"

With a gleaming smile Ramzi began "Olivia has been a lifesaver to my family. The only reason I can do this job is because she believed in me. She got me off the street and into trade school. If not for her and her father, I would either be dead or homeless. When Justin told me she was his reference, I didn't hesitate." He nodded and gave a smile. "So how about those meals?"

Fitz looked at Justin. "Go tell Johnny meals for the month for Mr. Fawad here. Anytime we have an event make extra for his family, for the next year." Fitz looked at Ramzi. He put his hand out. "Thank you, and please thank…" Fitz stopped. He couldn't ask Ramzi to thank Olivia for him, Olivia didn't know who Fitz really was. "Thank your wife for the time she's losing with you. I truly appreciate it."

"Yes, sir. And you have my card. Please do not hesitate to call."

"I won't, and here." Fitz pulled out Sebastian's card. "This is my guy who is unavailable today because of a family thing. Get in contact with him. I wouldn't mind the two of you going into business as partners, I'd love to contract you."

Fitz turned away as Justin was returning to give Ramzi the information on when he could pick up the meals. Fitz needed to go, get some fresh air because he didn't know who he was in there, but it wasn't him. As soon as he heard Olivia's name, a chill ran down his spine.

Did he just offer a guy a contract? He climbed into the car and held his head in his hands. "Who the fuck are you right now?" He typed the food bank's address into the GPS and began to head in that direction, hoping Olivia was still there. He had some explaining to do.

As the car began its motion, Fitz made a phone call to his assistant, Jeremy.

Jeremy answered, "Boss, it's a Saturday, don't say…"

"Stop what you're doing," Fitz interrupted him. "You're being paid by me, not by the girl you have under you right now. I want everything you can find on Olivia Pope." He looked at the ETA for the food bank. "You have fifteen minutes. If I don't have any information on my phone in fifteen minutes, ask the girl you're with to marry you, because you'll need someone to support your fired ass."

Jeremy threw his head back and climbed off the bed. Maxine would have to wait. There was no way her waitress salary would be able to support them. "You'll have it ten." Jeremy left Maxine wondering what she had done wrong as she watched Jeremy walk away.

Olivia was non stop once she handed the picture back to DC. She was packing box after box for family after family. Each family is in need of something different. We had our vegetarians, our vegans, our gluten free, and our nut free, each family benefitting from the donations given to the food bank.

Each time Olivia looked up and saw someone with blue eyes, "Tom" came back to her. Those blue eyes, trying to be so tough on the outside, but Liv could see right through them, he wasn't so tough after all. If he was, he would have told her ass to get out of the car and walk, but he didn't.

Then, the exchange he witnessed between Buzzy and Max. Liv was certain he thought she would be scared. She felt in her gut he was anticipating him to protect her, he had the wrong damsel in distress. Liv was no means like that at all.

From a young age, Liv learned how to protect herself. Liv was aware she was growing up in a not so pretty part of the city. Her father owned a small store below their apartment. He was the go to guy for the families, sometimes not making a profit at all making sure families didn't go without food.

Eli Pope is the one who began the food bank in this part of the city. He couldn't continue giving freebies out if he wanted to feed his own child. He solicited a few upper class honchos for sponsors to the food bank and it was on the way to being successful.

Now, twenty years later, it's still going strong, and he has a complete team to help with collections, stocking, and distribution. The abandoned building across the street was turned into a shelter, again by the sponsors Eli solicited, giving hope to families who were down on their luck.

At the age of ten, Olivia sat down one night and began journaling her experiences out in the neighborhood she called home. She wrote her real life tales about homelessness, the poverty, and the apathy from government leaders.

Every night she would come home from the food bank, from the shelter, and journal. She gave code names to families they helped, and even described their horrendous reasons for having gone to the food bank or shelter for help.

Olivia learned at a young age not to judge anyone, in any situation. She didn't hate or envy rich people, it was the hand dealt to you. Eli always said it's how you play your hand that gets you through in life. Olivia remember that one night when Samantha, a bully from her school, came in the shelter with her family.

Samantha did not live on this side of the city. In school she made fun of Olivia for collecting cans of food from teachers and mocked her for clothing drives she ran for the shelter. "Why do you take that shit from her?" Abby, her best friend asked her, "I'd knock her on face, making sure her braces came out. Rich little shit." Abby looked at Samantha and gave her the middle finger.

Olivia reached over, pushing Abby's hand down. "Stop, Abby, don't stoop to her level." Olivia walked over to Samantha. Olivia handed her a box. "Would you be so kind as to collect cans on the third floor? I could really use the help."

Samantha didn't uncross her arms. Her eyes looked up at the girl asking her this ridiculous question. "You're joking right? No, I can't collect cans, freak, collect them yourself with your red headed puppet." Samantha turned an walked away, not bothering Olivia again.

"What did you say to her?" Abby stood there in stunned silence.

"Nothing really, if she wanted to join us, we could use the help. Now she knows leave me alone or I'll keep asking." Liv shrugged.

Two months later she had heard Samantha's father died suddenly, and her mother lost the house they lived in. Two weeks after that, Samantha was in the shelter, and tried hiding when she saw Olivia. Olivia walked over to her cot and sat next to her.

Putting her arm around the girl, she assured her there was nothing to be embarrassed about. Olivia told her it would be temporary, and things would work out. Samantha couldn't believe how nice Olivia was to her after how she had treated her all these months in school.

It did turn out ok. Samantha's mother found a job in another state, and they bought a small home. That was the day Olivia went home and began her journaling. After six months of writing stories, her father thought it was brilliant and contacted several publishers.

Olivia's first book came out at the age of eleven. "Life Isn't Always Easy", was the title and there was a picture of a young Olivia handing out blankets to homeless families outside the shelter. It sold enough to make more money for her family.

Over the course of the years, Olivia wrote several more books, and there were profits. Her father tried his best to get her more exposure, but that wasn't easy. She appeared on a few talk shows, nothing major, but it was enough to put them on the higher end of income, and Liv began using drivers to get around the city.

Now, she was waiting for her big break. She had written a full, almost novel, a fictional story based on a true story about one of the homeless families. It was just sent off to the publisher and her father and Abby thinks for sure it's a shoe in to hit the big time.

Olivia took a deep breath now and turned to her right. Her head tilted and she shrugged. "Malcolm come over here, please."

16 year old Malcolm was taking pictures with his brand new camera. Malcolm had high dreams of owning his own magazine company and was pushing to get into a college for photography and journalism. He walked slowly over to Olivia, whom he had known since he was born.

"My father asked you to do this?"

"Yes, ma'am. He wants pictures of you helping the community. I'm sorry, he told me to discreet, but I can't."

"It's fine, as long as I see every one of the pictures. You can't get my bad side, ok, kid."

Malcolm let out a sigh of relief. "You got it Liv." He continued to take pictures, and Liv asked him to follow her over to the shelter.

As they stepped out into the hot dwindling day, Liv looked up and down the street. She thought maybe, just maybe "Tom" would come back looking to give her a ride home after all. She took a disappointed breath.

"Something wrong, Liv?" Malcolm asked her.

She shook her head. "No, just thinking. Have you seen Buzzy; did he go to the food bank?"

"He was in there. He was having a cup of coffee in the back."

"Good, I'm glad he stopped in."

When they got to the shelter, Liv greeted some of the families. She went over to her laptop to input the names of the people staying and when she finished up, she decided to google one Mr. Fitzgerald Grant the Third. "Let's see why you're known as "Tom" she said to herself as his image appeared on her screen. Her finger went down along his gorgeous face, and she wondered how it would feel to actually do that to him.

For a moment she felt a pause in her breath as she saw those eyes again. She got a feeling in her stomach, one she had never felt before, and she took a deep breath out. She scrolled down a bit and saw the first article.

"Oh boy." She said. "No wonder you didn't want my finding out your true identity." She began reading, and with each word she began to feel the heat rise in her face. Fitzgerald Grant was no bad boy, the media made him out to be one, and that, Liv thought, was not fair, and certainly not a good hand to be dealt. It didn't matter how much wealth he was born into.

Outside the food bank, Fitz parked his car. He pulled his phone out and clicked the attachments Jeremy had sent him.

While Olivia was googling him inside the shelter, Fitz was looking at an image of Olivia dated one year ago. The title was. "Local City Girl to Publish Book".

Liv was smiling amongst what Fitz would guess was her father and DC. The background was the very building he was parked in front of. He continued to read about the books she had published already, all being about feeding the hungry and homeless families.

He looked out through the windshield and took a small sight. They are two entirely different people, he squinted, no wonder she told him to go be free for the day.

Before he was about to drive away, he noticed one more article. "Olivia Pope Wins Green Center Humanitarian Award." It went on to list her help in the community and her overall kindness and giving to those in need.

In that picture, she was wearing a green blazer, and it brought out the beauty of her skin, the shining of her eyes, and gave her a glow of elegance. Fitz rubbed his finger down the screen, imagining how smooth her skin must be.

As he was reading a text message came through. "Is that enough for you boss? I hope you're not thinking about dating her, you're out of her league, no way she is good enough for you. I'll go back on top now." It was from Jeremy, and it ended with a wink emoji.

"Hey Jeremy, be sure you tell her about your STD, you dumbass prick." Fitz ended his message with a middle finger emoji. He looked, as the door to the food bank opened and Buzzy came walking out.

Jeremy was right, drive away. She probably knows all about you now, why bother. No, the voice said, you owe her a thank you for Ramzi. You can get Justin to do that, he could call her and thank her, she doesn't know you own the building.

He put his forehead on the steering wheel. She'll know you own the building once she finds out who you are, go say thank you. He gave the steering wheel one bump with his head and couldn't believe he was dong this.

He jumped out of the car. "Buzzy." Fitz said as if he had known the guy his whole life.

Buzzy took a step back. "I didn't do nothing wrong officer." Buzzy held his hands up.

Fitz looked at him confused. "I'm not a cop. I just want to know if Olivia Pope is in there."

Buzzy smiled. "Oh, you know Olivia. You here to interview her, huh? She's a writer you know."

"Yeah," Fitz waved it off. "Is she in there."

"Nah, she left over there to the shelter." Buzzy turned and walked away.

Fitz looked at the lighted shelter building. He rubbed his forehead and took a few steps towards the building. "You're out of your mind Fitz, turn around," but he couldn't.

He held the door opened for a mother and son walking in, but let it close shy of him going in. He leaned his forehead up against the wall next to the door. He felt a pat on his shoulder, and it was an older man. Fitz looked over at him.

"It's not that bad, son, they help you in there, go on in, nothing to be ashamed of." The man walked in holding the door, but Fitz gestured to let it close.

Olivia had enough reading. She was just about to pull the computer top down, when DC came up from behind. "You do enough studying to see what a jackass he truly is?" DC pointed to the picture of Fitz.

Liv looked over at the screen The article was titled "Grant Boy in Another Altercation." The picture was Fitz, his hand around the back of the neck of unidentified young man.

"A picture can say many things DC, I don't think he did anything wrong; I think he's a target because of his privilege."

"Please, Liv, I follow it all, remember I tried Berkely for four years, he was one of those guys, they have no cares, it's all about them. Fitz was with that crowd."

"Oh really, and did he ever downgrade you?" Liv crossed her arms waiting.

"Well, no, but I've heard how he was with his friends." DC shrugged. "He isn't a nice guy, and your father is livid that you were in a car with him."

Liv shook her head. "Are you ever going to let me live my own life?"

"Anyway, I'll be going in a few minutes. Everyone is set down for the night." DC looked around, and then said, "maybe not".

Standing by his knees was Little Nathaniel. He was holding his Lego blocks he had piled high. "Hi Olivia." Nathaniel said, waving to her. "I made this for you."

Olivia picked up Nathaniel. He was four and they were trying to get him into a pre k, but without a current address they were hitting some roadblocks.

"These are great. Can you tell me what colors are on them?"

"That's blue, then red, then blue, then red." Nathaniel pointed to each block then smiled, just inches from Liv's smile as they looked at each other.

"Yep, and that's called a pattern, when something repeats, it's a pattern. Red, blue, red, blue."

"Yeah," DC chimed in "a pattern, like always in trouble, but daddy bailing you out. Trouble, bail out, trouble, bail out." DC nudged his head towards the door. "Look who just walked in."

Olivia looked up and she had to tighten her grip on Nathaniel to keep him from falling from her weakness. "Tom" was walking over to her.

Fitz had been in the shelter for a few minutes looking around. He spotted Olivia immediately and was just about to walk over when she picked up the young boy.

Seeing her gentleness with the child and her smile, Fitz just froze. She was amazingly beautiful, and this exchange just added to her beauty. She was so loving towards the boy and she had him smiling in no time.

When DC nudged his head in his direction, Fitz tried to look down, but couldn't. Olivia continued to hold Nathaniel as she walked over to Fitz.

Olivia looked up at Fitz with a slight squint in her eyes, but to Fitz it seemed more of a glisten. She bounced Nathaniel up on her hip and waited.

Fitz took a deep breath, looking down at her determined eyes and Nathaniel's innocent ones. "Hi" he said tight lipped.

"Hi" Liv said, paused and then air quoted "Tom."

Fitz knew he had some explaining to do.