"I don't understand why you're keeping it a secret from him. That's all I'm saying."
"I'm not keeping it a secret from him. I'm just not telling him."
After picking Cyrus up from the airport, Liv drove him back to her house. All the way, he harassed her about telling Fitz about her lumpectomy while he would be in Miami. She never saw an issue of not telling him, but Cyrus would make one if he was getting his way.
"Then if he asks you what you'll be doing while he's in Florida, your answer will be having surgery?"
"No, my answer is working. I'll be working through the recovery. The only time I will not be working is when I'm under anesthesia. Which is going to be an hour max. Fitz will be just fine for one hour without me. He does it all the time."
Stepping out of the car when she parked in the garage, Cyrus grabbed his suitcase and walked with her towards the elevator. "If it's no big deal then you shouldn't be having an issue with telling him. What if, God forbid, you are given the wrong medication again and you are in the hospital for two days? What if he does need you?"
"Cyrus, you really are overreacting. There is nothing to worry about," Liv told him opening the front door to let them in.
"While you aren't worrying about your surgery, I'll be worrying enough for the both of us."
"You're having surgery?" Liv and Cyrus both jumped hearing Fitz's voice from the kitchen counter. "I'll call you back, Dad." Hanging up the phone, Fitz waited for a full minute for either of them to start talking. "Why do you need surgery? Your ankle?"
Cyrus looked down at her shoes, trying to get a good look at her ankle. "Did you break your ankle again?"
"No, my ankle is fine. I'm fine. I twisted my ankle on a run several weeks ago, Cy. It's fine."
"Then why do you need surgery, Livie?"
Both men watched her for a moment waiting for her to say something but didn't. "I'm… I'm going to drop this right here and head out for a bit. Give you two time to discuss," Cyrus told them, excusing himself.
Rolling her eyes, she handed Cyrus the keys and went to the kitchen opening the fridge. "What would you like for dinner?" she asked ignoring his question.
"An answer."
"I'm not sure how to make that. Let me google it."
"Olivia. What are you two talking about?"
"Fitz it isn't something you need to concern yourself with."
"If you are having surgery than I believe it is something that I should be concerned about."
"No, you don't."
"Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't be concerned about. I will let you know when I don't need to be concerned about something. And you having surgery is something that I will concern myself about. Now what are you having done? If it's not your ankle, then something else is wrong. So, what is it?"
Crossing her arms, she leaned against the counter looking at the floor. "You are really overreacting."
"Olivia Carolynn Pope, tell me right this minute what you are having done!"
Hearing him yell at her, and use her full name, brought her attention back to his eyes. "Boss or boyfriend, you will NOT yell at me like that!"
Pissed off, she started towards the bedroom but only made it to the living room when Fitz caught her wrist and pulled her to him in a tight hug. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled. I need to know what kind of surgery you're having. Any kind of surgery has risks. I'd like to know what kind of risks you are looking at. How can I help?"
"Last I checked you were a lawyer, not a doctor. And I don't think you handle the sight of blood very well," she told him taking a step away.
"Doctor, lawyer, whatever it is, I want to be there for you. Now, what are we looking at?"
Letting out a deep sigh, Liv went to the living room sitting on the couch and looked over the back to see him. "Lumpectomy."
"Lumpectomy? As in you have cancer?" Fitz watched her for a second before his mind started posing questions that just slipped out of his mouth without processing. "What type of cancer? How long? Where are your medications? When did you find out? Why didn't you tell me this before? What stage is it?"
"Fitz…"
"Is the surgery going to clear it up? How did you find out?"
"FITZ!" She yelled his name, trying to make him stop asking questions. "Baby, I don't have cancer. Please calm down. Your blood pressure is going to skyrocket."
"That's not funny, Olivia. I'm being serious. What type of cancer is it?"
Leaning over the back of the couch, she offered her hand for him to come closer and sit by her. "I promise you, I do not have cancer," she told him as he came towards her. "It's just a lumpectomy to remove a mass that shouldn't be there."
"If you have a mass then that's something I should be concerned about. How is it a mass but not cancer?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. They just show up sometimes and I have to have surgery to have them removed. Very minimally invasive surgery. It takes an hour and I'm in and out. Recovery only takes a couple of days."
"If it's so minor than why not tell me?"
"Because I didn't want you to freak out on me. Like you're doing now."
"You said surgery, of course I'm going to freak out. Liv, why wouldn't you want me to know about this?"
"We just started dating."
"Let me ask this then. Would you have told your boss that you needed a couple days off to recover?"
"No. Because I'm not taking time off to recover. I never have."
Listening to her, Fitz was not buying her attitude about any of this. She seemed a bit too positive for this kind of news until her words clicked in his mind. "Hold on a minute, what do you mean you 'never have', are you saying you've had this done before?"
"You're starting to flip out again."
"And you're dodging the question."
"Yes, I've had this done before. This will be my seventh time."
"Seven! They can't get it right the first time?"
Olivia smirked and tried to hold back a laugh but failed. "I think if they screwed up the first time, I wouldn't be going back the second or the seventh. The mass grows back or another one appears. It's actually common for some women."
"I heard Cyrus say something about you being in the hospital for two days when you two came in. What was he talking about?"
"I'm allergic to morphine. They gave it to me after my first surgery. It wasn't in my chart at that hospital. But now they know. And it's my same doctor I've had since the second surgery. It's all taken care of. Fitz, there really is nothing to worry about."
"Fine, I'll try to stop worrying so much about it. But when are you going in?"
"While you're in Miami. I'll be completely recovered by the time you get back," she smiled and leaned in to kiss him but stopped when he pulled back away from her. "What's wrong?"
Seeing the look on his face, Liv was positive she was in for it now. "You were, not only, not going to tell me about having surgery but you were going to do it behind my back? Don't you think that's a bit insensitive?"
"No, I think it's my business. You are swamped at work for the next several weeks and the only down time I would have was while you are in Miami. I'm going to drop you off at the airport with Lucas and meet Jerry at the hospital for my surgery."
"Who the hell is Lucas?"
"That would be my personal driver. He's sort of like Henry, but he works for me. Lucas drives me wherever I need to go at any time."
"Hold on, my dad knows about this too? You told him but not me? The man you are dating and sharing a bed with every night is the one person you don't want to know that you are having surgery? Damn it, Liv! You can't keep things like this from me! How the hell would you feel if I didn't tell you I was having surgery?"
"Well, first, that wouldn't happen because I know about every doctor's appointment you have as well as having access to your medical files. Second, I didn't 'keep' it from you. I just didn't tell you."
"You aren't getting my point!" Fitz shouted as he got up from the couch. Beyond upset with the entire discussion, he started walking around the living room but only managed to get angrier and punched the door to the spare bedroom leaving a hole.
Hearing the sound of his fist hitting something made Olivia jump and turn to see what happened. "Fitz please, you are getting worked up over nothing."
Going to the kitchen, she grabbed a clean towel and wrapped ice in it before she went to find him in their bedroom. Seeing the scratches on his knuckles as he sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands, Liv kneeled in front of him and took his now injured hand to ice it.
"Okay, I probably should have told you. From now on, I will keep you updated on it. I get it now. If you were having something done, I would want to know too."
"Is that your way of saying you're sorry?"
"Yeah, sure," she told him rolling her eyes. "Apologies are not my thing. I will try to do better."
"Why is Jerry going to the hospital with you?"
"He's my power of attorney. He makes decisions I can't make for myself if needed."
"Why not your parents?"
"It was Stephen and then when he died, Jerry became it. I don't know where my parents are. Last I knew, Maya was somewhere in Europe and Eli was wandering around Vegas. But that was three years ago. Cyrus was going to be my power of attorney. I've known him since I was twelve. But he said taking me off life support was never an option for him. So, I made Jerry instead."
Olivia kept her attention on his hand, trying to make sure nothing was broken or anything as she spoke. Fitz tried to get her to look at him, but she still refused.
"I doubt Jerry could do that either. I'm sorry I flipped out about it. But I'm going to reschedule my trip so I can be here with you. And you will take two days off to recover. Whatever the doctor says, you are going to do it."
"There's no need for you to cancel Miami. It's been planned for months. You can't just cancel this close to the seminar."
"Too bad, I'm going to reschedule, and I'll be here to take care of you. That's the end of the discussion."
Sitting next to him on the bed, Liv tried to come up with some way to convince him she would be fine while he was gone but nothing came to mind. "Are you absolutely sure that I can't talk you out of this?"
"A million percent. I will take you myself and bring you home. I'm going to be there with you." Fitz turned on the bed and wrapped his arm around you bringing her closer to him. "Can you please promise me that you won't keep things like this from me? It only makes me worry so much more than I need to."
Slowly she nodded her head. "I can't make any promises, but I will try to do better at not keeping things from you. I don't need you to worry about me. I've been doing fine… well, semi fine, by myself for a long time."