"What are you doing out of bed?"
"I'm only going to the couch, relax dictator."
Fitz was almost offended but seeing the smirk on her face made him laugh. One day after surgery and she was still in awful pain. He'd given her pain medicine that was also supposed to help Liv sleep, but it didn't work on her; Fitz still had to be in bed beside her. While he was asleep, she managed to get her phone from him and send a few messages before he woke up and started scolding her. Fitz had been keeping Jerry, Cyrus, and Huck informed of her pain levels and sleep status since he got her home the day before but was blocking any non-urgent work matters.
"Grilled cheese and orange juice," he told her handing her the plate as she took a seat on the couch.
"I could have made these myself," Liv said before taking a bite. "Though it probably wouldn't have been this good." Curling her feet under her, she kept eating, seeing Fitz make sure she was going to finish her food. After putting the plate on the table in front of her, she moved over towards him and kissed him softly. "Thank you for everything. I typically don't like being taken care of, but I will accept it this time."
Moving his body so he could lay his legs on the couch and let Liv slide between them with her back against his chest, as it had become their favorite position to sit and relax. Fitz kissed her again and let her get comfortable before he traced circles on her arm.
"How much of the pain killers have you had?" he laughed and stroked her wrist. After two weeks of dating, he was glad she was able to be comfortable with him and stay against him for hours.
"Just what you've given me."
Letting the silence fill the room as they laid together on the couch for what felt like forever.
"Livie? You know that you can tell me anything and I wouldn't judge you, right?"
"You haven't judged me this far. But let's not push our luck."
"Tell me about you some more. Tell me whatever comes in your head."
Thinking about it for a moment, Liv let out a sigh and tilted her head back to look at him. "I like laying here with you and not caring that my work is blowing up ten feet away. And that the phone in your pocket, which is probably mine, has gone off ten times since we sat down here."
"Actually, that one is mine. You aren't the only one whose phone can blow up. But I don't care right now. So, tell me something else," he smiled and kissed her lips before she turned away.
"What do you want to know? Give me a topic."
"Childhood, then. What's the first thing you remember?"
Laying with her back against him, Olivia had to think about it for several minutes. How far back could she remember? "I think I was five or so. My mom picked me up from school and took me for ice cream. She came early and took me out of class. 'I needed some Livia time' was her excuse. We drove and drove and ended up at some horse stable. I'd wanted to ride a horse forever. I got on one with her and we went riding down some long trail. We must have ridden for a couple miles in a circle back to the stables. Then she took me to the movies and bought me a new dress, got our nails done, our hair done. She took me to a fancy restaurant and ordered in another language, but it was delicious. After that she took me to the beach, and we saw the sunset. I remember being so tired that she took me home and helped me into my pajamas and kissed me goodnight. She sang me a song until I was asleep."
"Sounds like a perfect mother daughter day."
"It was. She made everything perfect. I just didn't see that she was making it perfect so she could say goodbye."
"Goodbye?"
"She left me that night. I didn't see her again for many years."
Feeling her tense a bit, Fitz carefully wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "I'm so sorry baby. I can't imagine how much that hurt. Do you know why she took off?"
"Nope. I don't care to ask her either. All I know is she left me. I thought I did something that upset her, but dad says she was just a wild spirit. 'Maya will always be Maya.' Maybe I'll ask her someday when I give a damn but not this decade."
"You talk to her?"
"She used to call me every now and then. But it's been a few years. I haven't heard from her since she found out about Stephen."
"What about your dad? Does he talk to her?"
Liv laughed at the idea. "He never wants to see her again."
"My dad said Eli hasn't been around in a few years. Where is he at?"
"The last note I got from him was in Vegas. I talk with him sometimes. But I haven't actually seen him since Stephen's funeral," she told him. Shaking her head of the memory of the funeral she held Fitz's hand and laid it on her belly. "What about you? How far back can you remember?"
Running his fingers up and down her arm while they talked made her relax into him more. "Dad took me to the baseball game when I was three. Yankees verse Tigers, first game of the season. We sat a few rows up from the dugout in left field. I was sitting on his lap and a foul ball came our way. He lifted me up so I could catch it. Which I did. Then I got it signed by the player. They had good hot dogs too," Fitz laughed.
"See? Your dad and you got along."
"Of course we did, I was three."
"You could get along now if you put in the effort. What about your mom? Jerry doesn't talk about Lily very much."
"You know my mom's name?"
"I know your social security number too."
"I'm sure you do," he smiled and rolled his eyes. "Mom is great. She lives in California with her husband and their dogs. She keeps busy. Not as busy as you but enough that retirement doesn't bore her. I'm sorry you couldn't have a mom like mine. But she's going to love you anyway."
"Oh so you're that kind of guy. Got it."
"And what kind of guy is that?"
"The one that needs mom's approval on the girl he's dating. And if mom doesn't like the girl there is either a breakup or there is tension every time we meet up."
"Ha! Mom hates Mellie. She nearly disowned me when I told her we were engaged. I told her to live with it and that Mellie wasn't going anywhere. She still can't stand her and calls her 'that woman' instead of her name."
"I like your mom already."
For several minutes Fitz let himself imagine what bringing Olivia home to his mom would be like. Hoping more than anything that she would love Liv as much as he did and beg her to stay with him forever. Whereas with Mellie, she told him to get her out of the county with the trash he brought to her house.
"What else can we talk about?" Fitz asked her. "Would you tell me about Stephen?"
"I… I can't. I can't talk about him and not…"
"You don't have to explain it to me, Livie. Just know that if you ever want to, I'll be right here to listen."
"Thank you. Thank you for not pushing the subject either."
"I'm not going to push, Liv. I would like to know about him but only when you are ready to tell me. I have a different question though. A different topic."
"Alright. Shoot."
"How do you know Verna?"
"She's Jerry's girlfriend. She's a sweet lady. And he is very taken with her. Very taken."
"Oh? And how do you know that? They've dated before and he's always 'taken' with her, but they never seem to last."
Olivia tried to fight the smile on her face but couldn't. Luckily, Fitz wasn't able to see it. "He talks about her all the time. And he texts her whenever he's in bed with me. She consumes his every thought. Jerry loves Verna."
"Do you know her aside from my dad?"
"Fitz, just ask."
"Ask what?"
"The question that you know is probably going to piss me off."
"Then I'm not going to ask."
"Yes, Verna is my psychiatrist. She's been my psychiatrist since I moved to D.C. That's how Jerry got back in touch with her. I know they had dated several times in the past and when Stephen died, I went to see her. My car broke down and I called Jerry to come get me. Verna waited with me for him to show up and then they exchanged numbers again. After that it led us to here."
Listening to her talk about Verna made Fitz a bit uncomfortable. He'd had himself convinced that Verna was the whole reason Jerry and Lily's marriage collapsed. He'd cheated with Verna and Fitz had hated her for it for so long. After years though, he realized that it wasn't her fault, it was Jerry's. "You know she's the one that my dad had the affair with that broke their marriage."
"Okay," she snarked but held back from giving him secrets she knew from Jerry.
"She was the first affair he had. Dad started coming home smelling of her perfume more and more. Then mom just had enough of it."
Reading into what Fitz was telling her a bit much, Olivia started to get annoyed. "Fitz, if you think telling me about how evil your dad was is going to make me not want to be friends with him then you are wasting your breath. There's nothing you can tell me that I don't already know about him or that's going to make me hate him. And you really need to stop trying to make him the bad guy for everything. He's as much a victim as Lily is in some cases."
"Woah, where the hell did that come from?" Fitz bit out. Wanting to see her face, he turned her head, but she sat up straight on the other side of the couch.
"Not my story. I need to take some pain killers. It's starting to hurt again."
"Olivia, what are you saying?"
"That I'm in pain."
"Don't do that. Don't change the subject when you just accused my mom of something."
"I'm not accusing anyone. I'm just… you need to talk to Jerry."
"No, I think I want to hear this from you. You seem to have inside information into his marriage. So, what are you talking about?"
Finding the pill bottle and a glass of water, Liv took a seat in the chair and looked over at him. "Jerry asked me not to tell you. He knows how much you adore Lily and that you'd only ever see her in the shining light. Personally, I think that if you are going to hate your father for something that wasn't any of your business, then you should also know the full story."
"The full story that is the truth or one that he made up to make himself look good?"
"Fitz, I have everything validated and know the truth. Whether you want to believe it or not, that's up to you."
"Then tell me and I'll decide if it's true or not."
"Verna and Jerry were dating in high school. They'd been dating for almost two years and got into some fight. I don't know what they were fighting about. But anyway, they fought, and Verna stormed out. Jerry went out with a group of friends and saw your mom. One thing led to another and next thing anyone knew was she was pregnant with you. Jerry's known Verna for much longer than you think. When he told her that Lily was pregnant, she broke up with him and refused to ever talk to him again. We all see how well that worked out."
"So how is he the victim? He slept with her."
"When you were ten, your mom started going to college. She met a guy and fell in love with him. She had an affair with him for several years. After months of being gone long hours and half the night, she told Jerry she wanted a divorce. But you know your father, he wasn't going to give in. He didn't cheat on her until much later. It was your mom that cheated and started the divorce process."
"And he told you all this? You can verify all of this?"
"Yes."
"Then who did she have the affair with?"
"Her current husband, George." Sitting in silence for several minutes, she watched as Fitz processed what she told him. Not sure if he believed her or not, really, she didn't care. It was what she was told and what she found out as true after a little digging.
"Why didn't dad just tell me that?"
"Jerry never wanted you to know. He didn't want you to see your mom as anything but the perfect mother. And she was a perfect mother for you. A marriage isn't something a child should have to worry about. I've learned that."
Gently grabbing her hand, he pulled her back to her place on his lap and kissed her cheek. "Thank you for telling me. And he's right. I will never see my mother than anything less than perfect. But I do think that he and I need to have a heart to heart. In the meantime though, it's time to get you to bed."
