"Fitz, why is there a plane ticket on the printer?"
In the two days that passed since Beth's death, Liv had put her mind into working again. She had managed to work through Tuesday with her distractions of whatever needed to happen from over the weekend. Wednesday was going a bit easier for her. Having her morning work finished, printing off the schedule for the rest of the week, Liv picked up the plane ticket from the printer with Fitz's name on it and headed into his office.
"That's where it went. I thought I sent it to my printer in here," Fitz laughed and went to take it from her, but she snatched her hand back. "Livie, come on."
"Are you hiding it from me?"
"Do you know how difficult it is to hide something from you? It's like knowing where the Queen is at all times; you'll always find out. Give it here."
Looking at it for a moment, she handed it to him. "Why are you going to Los Angeles? You don't have any seminars scheduled for California until October."
"I'm not going for work. I'm headed out to visit my mom."
"Is Lily okay? Why didn't you tell me? I would have set up the jet to take you."
Rounding the desk to her, Fitz held her shoulders and leaned down to eye level with her. "You're freaking out, Liv. Everything is fine. Mom's fine, George is fine. Everyone is fine. Breathe." Waiting for her to relax a minute, Fitz started to rethink not telling her about his short trip. "I'm just going for a quick visit. I was only going to be gone the weekend. But it looks like my trip is going to be delayed. Dad and Verna were supposed to be back last night but they're staying with Javi a little bit longer. I wasn't going to use the jet in case they needed to get Javi and the crew somewhere else. I've been flying commercial for a long time," he laughed.
"I'm not seeing why you need to postpone your trip because Jerry and Verna aren't back yet. Go visit your mom."
"Liv, I'm not leaving you alone for a weekend. I'll just go next weekend."
"Why not? Think I'll have party when you aren't home?" Liv smirked at the idea and sat down across from his desk. "I can have a party anytime I want really. Probably won't be many people there anyway. I don't need supervision."
"I know you don't need supervision. But I also know you need someone there to help you sleep."
Rolling her eyes at him, Liv shook her head. "Fitz, I'll be fine. Even if they don't come back today or tomorrow. Two days isn't a big deal. You'll be gone and back before you know it."
"I thought about asking you to come with me, but I knew you wouldn't."
"Good, and besides, you need some time with your mom."
Dropping the subject for the time being, both went back off to work. Olivia got her daily briefings from the other locations and compiled her report for Fitz. Sitting at her desk, Liv saw her phone light up beside her.
"Verna, how's Javi?"
"He's improving. His cell counts are getting higher. We're getting there. It's higher than they were three days ago. Jerry and I were thinking of staying until next week."
"Sure, of course. How's Huck and Kim? I just keep getting the 'we're okay' texts. Do they need anything?"
"I think they're okay. Jerry's been keeping an eye on Huck. I wanted to check on you though. How are you holding up? Jerry told me about Beth."
"I'm alright. I got to say goodbye to her. That's what I needed to do. Fitz was with me, but I've been expecting it for quite some time. I know she's better now. She's not trapped in her mind."
"That's true. Are you going to be okay with Fitz gone for the weekend? I can write you a prescription for some sleep medication if you need it. Two nights alone without sleep. I can have Jerry come home if you need him."
"You knew about him leaving? He just told me a few hours ago."
"Jerry told me a couple days ago; Fitz called him before you saw Beth. He asked when we were headed home."
"Don't worry about me, stay with Javi. He needs you guys the most. I'll be fine for a couple days alone. It'll give me some time to fix some of the dining room office. Go take care of Javi and keep me updated."
Hanging up the phone, Liv stood in the doorway to Fitz's office. "You told your dad you were leaving without telling me first?"
"I just wanted to be sure you had someone here with you."
"I am not a child, Fitz. If you need to go on a trip, then go. Don't try to find a babysitter for me. I am very capable of taking care of myself. We've had this conversation before. So, just stop, okay?"
"Why are you getting so mad about this? You need someone to stay in bed with you to sleep."
"And I will take care of my sleep problems. Or are you forgetting that I killed the man who caused those sleep problems?"
Leaning back in the chair, Fitz rubbed his head with his palms. "Liv, I know about that. But even since then, you've not fallen asleep without me beside you."
"Because we share a bed, Fitz. We live in the same place, work at the same place, share the same space. Yeah, I fall asleep with you beside me. Like a normal relationship."
"Alright, alright, you win. Fine! I will go to California for the weekend and leave you be. You've gone ten days without sleep before, two days should be nothing for you."
Heading home for the night, Fitz kept his comments to himself about the upcoming weekend. Hopefully, Jerry and Verna would be back before he left but it didn't seem like it was going to happen. While he fixed dinner for them, Liv sat in the living room and facetimed with Javi.
"Do you feel any better?"
"Just a little. I didn't throw up today. Nana says that's a good thing. She said if I don't puke tomorrow too, she'll send Papa to get me ice cream. But I feel good. The medicine helps get the yucky stuff out of me," Javi told her. His energy level was starting to improve and getting back towards his normal behaviors. "Daddy said I get to come home in a few weeks. I miss you, Aunt Liv! When I come home, we can play soccer and have a movie night. Right?"
Olivia smiled seeing him excited again. The last few times that he was able to video chat with her, he'd been so tired and sick from the chemo and radiation that he couldn't even sit up. "That sounds like a good plan. I've got some new movies just for you too. And there's a pair of pretty cool Transformer pajamas that are sitting in the guest room. I think they might even be your size."
"I don't think they'll fit Uncle Fitz."
Fitz dropped the spoon in the sink hearing Javi call him uncle. Olivia turned to see him looking over at her from the kitchen and smiled. "You're right on that. They're too small for him. I thought you didn't like me having a boyfriend?"
"It's okay. Somebody has to be there to help you sleep. I don't want you to be alone when Papa and Nana are here. Is Uncle Fitz there with you now? Can I talk to him?"
Waving him over, Fitz went and sat beside her on the couch. "Hey Javi. How's it going there? Papa and Nana spoiling you?" Fitz waved at him.
"No! Nana's working her butt off. She yelled at a doctor yesterday. Mommy told me to put my headphones on. Guess she said some not nice words."
"I'm sure she didn't."
"Uncle Fitz, can you tell Aunt Liv to go away?"
"Wait a minute! It's my phone!" Liv shouted and laughed.
"You heard the kid, up and out."
"Please Aunt Liv! I need guy talk with Uncle Fitz."
"You're lucky I love you two," Liv smirked and got up going to the bedroom and starting a shower.
"Ok, she's gone bud. What's up? You okay?"
Javi nodded and looked at the phone directly after checking out the window of the hospital room for the adults. "Is Aunt Liv okay? You promised you'd protect her from the bad man. I gotta make sure she's good. Daddy and Papa are here with me, so you have to do it. Is she sleeping? She has bad dreams sometimes too."
"Javi, you don't need to worry about Liv. There's no bad man anymore. The only men around Aunt Liv is me, Papa and Daddy. We'd never hurt her. You know that right?" Fitz watched him nod before continuing. "She sleeps too. I haven't seen her have any bad dreams in a while. Liv's doing good. So, you just need to focus on getting better so you can come home and spend time with her. She misses you like crazy. We talked about taking you to the zoo when you come home too. Think you'd be up for some crazy animal adventures?"
"I am totally up for crazy animals! Promise you'll take care of her? Daddy says she doesn't do good by herself."
"I promise, Aunt Liv will be okay."
While Liv showered, Fitz finished dinner while still on the phone with Javier. He could see him getting tired, but Javi refused to hang up until he saw Liv again. Putting on some comfortable clothes, Liv came out and took her phone.
"Get some sleep, buddy. You can chat me tomorrow."
"Okaayyyyyy," he yawned and blew her a kiss. "Love you more than hot dogs!"
"Love you more than wine. Night sugar." Hanging up and setting the phone down, Liv turned her attention back to Fitz. "And how was your guy talk?"
"It was good. He misses you very much. I told him about going to the zoo when he comes home. He liked the idea. He's also worried that you aren't sleeping."
"He's four, he shouldn't be worried about me."
"Liv, he's four. He doesn't understand that he's very sick. All he knows is that he's sick and throwing up. And while the adults around him try to make him better, you aren't there with them and he's not seeing you every day like he has for probably his entire life. Naturally, he's concerned that you are sleeping because that's what he knows. It's one way he can help. All little kids want is to be helpful. So, with him not being able to be helpful here, he asked me to be helpful and make sure you sleep and eat. And that is something I can do."
Sitting down for dinner, both relaxed on the couch and watched tv while they ate. Making it to bed afterwards, Fitz wasn't concerned as much about Olivia being alone for the almost three days he'd be gone.
She'll have plenty of work to keep her busy. And the time she isn't working… yeah, right, like she won't be working. I can call and check on her both mornings and nights. She's an adult, let her be. She took care of herself for long before I knew her. Two days is a cake walk.
Laying in bed with Fitz, he kept his arm wrapped around her waist as he fell asleep. Liv found it relaxing to fall asleep like that and ran her fingers up and down his arm.
Maybe I'll try sleeping alone. Even if I can't, two days won't hurt. What's the difference? Besides, there's always going to be a time that Fitz can't be here, and neither can someone else to stay with. Edison is dead. He's not going to hurt me. It's just memories.