"Livie?"
Monday morning, Fitz woke up expecting Olivia to be out of bed, finishing her morning run or in the shower. Looking at the clock at 7:30 am, Olivia was still lying in bed beside him, curled into a ball. Finally, she wants to sleep in. Fitz smiled and bent over to kiss her cheek to wake her. Putting his lips to her skin, he could feel wetness against them.
"Liv?" Fitz tried her name again but received no answer. Sitting up, he rubbed her arm, looking over at her to see she was sound asleep. Gently rubbing her arm to her shoulder, coaxing her to wake up. "Liv, time to get up," he told her.
Ready to lightly shake her awake, Fitz was stopped when there were several loud knocks on the door. Getting out of bed, he looked back to see she was still asleep.
"What are you two doing here? It's 7:30 in the morning," Fitz asked Huck and Jerry when he opened the front door.
"And it's Monday and Livia did not meet us at the coffee house," Jerry reminded him. "We have a standing routine, or did you forget that?"
"It's also February 3rd and that's the main concern. Where's Liv?" Huck added.
"Still in bed asleep."
"You're a funny man, Fitz. There's no way Liv's still asleep unless you have got someone else in bed with her. You two doing a little something extra?" Huck laughed while Jerry rolled his eyes. "Seriously, where is she?"
"She's asleep. I thought she'd wake up when I got out of bed, but she didn't." Seeing both Jerry and Huck look at each other, Fitz shot a brow up at them. "You know this secret language between the two of you that seems to involve MY girlfriend is getting annoying. I think I should be clued in on whatever you are talking about. What about February 3rd? And why are you so worried that Liv's still asleep? What's the big deal?"
"STEPHEN!"
Hearing Olivia scream in the heartbreaking sob, Huck pushed past Fitz to get to her.
"That is what the big deal is," Jerry told him. Both following down the hall fast to the bedroom.
Huck knelt by the bed, shaking her shoulder and leg. "Wake up, Liv. Liv! Liv!" Shouting at her to wake up, Jerry stood by the foot of the bed and uncovered her feet, running his fingers down the arch of each foot, she popped her eyes open looking at Huck in front of her. "Nightmare?" Liv looked at him but seemed as though she was looking through him. "Which one?"
Switching spots with Huck, Fitz stroked the side of her face and pushed her hair back. "I tried to wake you up, but you were determined to stay asleep," Fitz told her before kissing her lips. "We are going to be late for work. Let's get up and get a shower." Pulling the blanket back from her body, Fitz waited for her to get up.
Jerry nodded to Huck and covered Olivia with the blanket. "I'll start the coffee. Fitz, join me." Following after him, Huck took his place on the floor beside the bed.
"February 3rd?"
"Stephen was murdered four years ago today."
"No one thought to give me a date of death?"
"I thought you knew. I figured she had told you by now or maybe you looked it up."
"No, I didn't, and she didn't say. So, what do we do? Does she just need a few minutes and then she's ready to get up or should I be canceling my day? I'll do whatever she needs me to do."
Pouring them each a cup of coffee, Jerry agreed with him. "Cancel your work day if you can. Today we let Olivia take the lead. I'll make the calls. I should call Verna too; she'll make sure we are handling this correctly."
Going back into the bedroom, Fitz handed Huck the cup and put Liv's on the nightstand before sliding down the wall to sit next to him. "Liv?"
"I hope you aren't waiting for her to respond. She's not going to say anything until she's ready."
"Liv, you're staring at us."
Hearing a pair of heels against the hardwood floor, Verna stepped in the bedroom to see the people around. "Actually, she's more staring through you. She's brain spotting."
Both Huck and Fitz looked up at Verna from the floor. "She's what?"
"She's physically here, yes, but her mind is in the night he died. Jerry said she screamed his name?" They both nodded their agreement. "She was seeing him in the ambulance when he coded. Liv's reliving the whole night that he died; she's done this before."
"Has she done this every year?" Fitz asked.
Pulling in a kitchen chair for Verna to sit with them, Jerry sat down beside her and took the seat. "Oh, no. This is the second time," he told Fitz and turned to Verna. "I was about to call you when you showed up; I figured you'd know what to do. How'd you know we were here?"
"Well, you hadn't come home after your morning coffee with Liv, and I saw the date, I assumed you would be here with her," she smiled and held his hand.
"Cyrus cancelled his flight; he'll be here soon, Kim too," Jerry added.
"What has she done in past years?" Fitz asked looking at Liv. "Is this just a today thing or a whole week thing?"
"The first year she spent the day in her apartment crying. The second year she was violent. Last year she was like this. Though she did snap out of it towards the end of the day. Liv went right back into work mode," Huck told him.
Fitz moved closer to her, putting his back against the night stand. "She'll come out of this herself, right? I shouldn't get a bucket of water and throw it on her?"
Laughing at the idea, Verna shook her head. "You could but I highly doubt that she would even acknowledge it. Liv's detached from the here and now."
"You're staying, right Jerry?" Huck asked after seeing the clock.
"All day."
"I need to get back to the café, but you call me when she does anything. I'll bring dinner tonight," Huck excused himself from the apartment.
Jerry and Verna left the room to leave Fitz with Olivia alone when Cyrus came up. Sitting around the living room, Kim arrived with breakfast and Javi in tow.
"Nana's here! Papa too!" Javi shouted excited to see them before running to them.
Going to the kitchen to greet her, Jerry wasn't happy to see Javi with her. "I can't believe you brought him here. He doesn't need to see Livia like this. She's so deep in her mind she won't say a word. How is that going to affect him?"
"Dad's sick and I couldn't find someone to watch him, I didn't have a choice but to bring him along." She told him, handing out the plates for food. "We'll just keep him occupied out here and out of the bedroom. I told him she wasn't feeling good, and I needed to come help her. How is she otherwise? Has she moved yet?"
Sitting on the floor beside her, Fitz listened to her phone chirp multiple times behind his head and grabbed it reading her messages to her. "Eli just messaged. 'Hope you're doing okay'. Here's one from you mom. 'Call me when you need me'." Seeing her still in the same position and her eyes directed at the wall, Fitz continued with her texts. "Abby wants to know if she should head up to New York to set up my lecture. Am I even giving a lecture in New York?" Fitz laughed trying to remember and went on. "Who is Michael? 'I know it's hard, but you will get through it. There's nothing you cannot handle.' Whoever he is, he's absolutely right about that, Livie. Charlotte sent you a sunrise picture of the Eiffel Tower. That's beautiful." He turned the phone for her to see but got no response. "Looks like all the offices are running smoothly. At least I hope that's just what the word 'green' means. Here's one from… why is he texting you?" Getting up, Fitz closed the door to the bedroom behind him joining everyone in the living room. "How the fuck is he texting her?"
"Bad word!" Javi shouted at him.
"Javi lets go see if we can find you a tv show in the guest room," Kim grabbed him and took him to the second bedroom closing the door.
Taking the phone from him, Cyrus read the message Fitz asked about. 'Four years since that bastard died. You'll be mine soon babe. When I'm out of here we're taking a long vacation, just us. Hope you had a wonderful birthday.'
"He's not supposed to have access to any phones or internet. Screenshot that message and send it to me, then delete it. Delete the picture and delete the message. Livia does not need to know about that. Has she read it yet?"
"It was marked as unread when I found it. I doubt that she has seen it."
"I'll call the prison warden and have him investigate this," Jerry told them looking at the text.
Coming out of the guest room, Kim saw the message as well. "Huck will kill him if he knows about this."
While the adults worked on whatever they could do to help Liv, Javi took the few seconds he to quietly go to her bedroom without anyone seeing him.
"Aunt Liv, everyone's mad out there. Fitz said a bad word," he told her coming up to the bed. Bringing himself to her level to see, Javi shook her arm. "Are you awake?" She blinked once at him. "Good. Are you sick?" Two blinks. "Mad?" One blink. "Sad?" One more. "Sleepy?" One blink with a tear. "Okay, I'll stay here with you so you can sleep." Moving the blanket back, he climbed up in the bed and moved her arm so you could lay between them. Getting her iPad from the night stand, Javi found the videos she always had for him on there. Clicking one of the shows to play, they both fell asleep again.
"The warden has Edison moved into solitary. They are going to find out how he managed to get any sort of message out of the building," Jerry informed all of them after several hours. "We should check on Livia. I haven't heard her at all."
Heading down the hall, Fitz opened the bedroom door hearing voices. "Liv?"
"Shhh, we're watching movies, Fitz," Javi whispered. "Aunt Liv's dancing. This one's her favorite."
"She's what?" Stepping to the other side of the bed to see the video, Fitz could see Olivia in a floor length black dress dancing with another man he didn't recognize. "Who is that she's with?"
"That's Stephen," Liv told them. "That's Stephen with me."
Turning around in her arm, Javi kissed her cheek. "You were supposed to take a nap, Aunt Liv. And when you wake up, you'd be happy again."
"It's alright. I'm okay. It's okay to be sad, right?" Javi nodded and hugged her. "Go tell mommy to order pizza for dinner."
"You be okay if I leave you?" Blinking once before she gave him a kiss and let him off the bed. "Aunt Liv wants pizza!" he shouted and ran down the hall to everyone else. "Mommy, Aunt Liv wants pizza for dinner. She's sad but she's okay."
"How do you know she's sad?"
"She blinked."
"What? Everyone blinks, Javi."
"No, well yeah, but Aunt Liv and me do it different. Sometimes we talk to each other with blinks."
Laying in bed behind her, Fitz pulled Liv closer to him to hold her while they finished the video they were watching. "So that's Stephen? Where were you that you were dressed up that much?"
"That's at the Alzheimer's fundraising gala. That was two weeks before everything."
"Livie, I wish you would have told me when he died. I didn't know what to do when I woke up and saw you in the state you were in."
Squeezing his hand, Liv let several more tears shed. "I thought I'd be okay this year. I have you this year. And if I didn't think about it, I would be okay and it would be just another day."
"But it's not; it never will be just another day for you, Livie. You could have told me when he died so I would be here for you. You don't have to go through everything alone anymore. Everyone's out in the living room ready to help you however you need us to. Don't push us away when we're only here to help. I know it's not in your nature, sweet baby, but all of us want what's best for you."
"Fitz, it's embarrassing to have so many of you here just to watch me lay in bed and do nothing all day. I don't want them to see me like this, especially Javier. Why did you bring them all here?"
"I didn't bring them here. They are your family and are here for you whether you want them to be or not. If you want to stay in bed and cry all day, then we will all stay in bed and cry with you. If you want to break things and get angry, we'll get angrier and break more things with you. And if you want to go to Stephen's gravesite and be with him, we can go too. Family is over bearing and annoying but they have your back when it counts the most. But if you want me to go kick them out, I can do my best to get them to leave. I make no guarantees that they will though."
