First Day Back

As the borrowed coffee started to brew the next morning, Olivia was choosing her clothes for the day. She had had a hard time trying to figure out which room to sleep in last night and ended up in her old bedroom. For some reason, her mother had kept her childhood room exactly as it had been the night she left with her father. It was weird sleeping in a room with wall to wall books and purple floral wallpaper. She no longer had any attachments to the things in her room, not just because she was an adult now, but because she didn't feel any attachment to anything in this house. Of course, it would be weirder still for her to sleep in the room that her mother had died in. Olivia uttered no complaints about being in her old bedroom.

When the smell of the coffee wafted upstairs, she knew she had made the right decision in going over to the Grant house last night too. She would not have been in a pleasant mood for her meetings without her favorite morning drink. She went downstairs and poured a mug full of the steamy black liquid, stirring in a decent amount of sugar and milk. She'd have to buy creamer while she was out today. And...maybe the remaining items needed for spaghetti. Something about being in this house made her want a homemade meal. It would be a nice change from dining out in restaurants like she did with her father in D.C.

Carrying her mug into the living room, Olivia looked out the window at the house across the street and recalled seeing Fitz last night. It was only six in the morning, and there was no movement coming from the house at the moment. Feeling brave, she opened the front door and decided to sit on the porch and drink her coffee in the quiet. Immediately, a large bug buzzed past her face. Olivia screamed and swatted at it with her free hand, causing her coffee to slosh over the top of the mug.

Her right hand was now soaked with the brown liquid, as was the wrist of her robe. She looked around for somewhere to set her mug down but realized that there wasn't one. There wasn't anywhere to sit down either. When she mentally compared this house to the apartment she lived in near D.C, her childhood home seemed more like a fortress than a home. She wondered how she hadn't noticed that before?

Setting her mug on the concrete Olivia rolled up the sleeve of her thin cotton robe to get the coffee soaked sleeve away from her skin. She'd throw it in the washer before she left for her meetings this morning. She picked her cup back up and looked over the black wrought iron gate that stood just past the front door.

It was already shaping up to be another hot day. Olivia felt like the heat would suck all the air from her lungs. It was already heavy with humidity. She suddenly heard laughter followed by a slamming screen door, and looked in the direction it was coming from. The same kids who she saw at the Grant house the night before were standing outside together. There were three of them. One girl and two boys. She was about to feel pity for the girl, being surrounded by presumably Grant males, but then remembered the bet she had made with them about Olivia's ability to speak, and the pity was forgotten.

Taking another sip of coffee, Olivia again peered at the house across the street. As her eyes landed on an upstairs window, something moved. The curtain was swinging left to right slightly, leaving Olivia to wonder if they had a pet living in the house now? Mr. Grant had been very anti animals, even with a house full of boys. She wondered if it had been a someone in the window instead of a something?

Not able to stand still for much longer, she walked around the side of the house and unlocked the garage door. She squinted into the dark room, not able to see her hand in front of her face after being out in the blindingly bright sun. Olivia slapped her left hand against the wall and began feeling around for the light switch she knew was there. When her palm found the smooth plate the switch was connected to, she swiped her wrist up.

Bright light flooded the room, and Olivia's eyes scanned the small space. She saw a few shelves with random things sitting on top of them, paint cans sat in a corner, a few power tools were mounted to a wall, three gray storage totes with their lids in place were stacked against the same wall, as well as other things Olivia remembered seeing from time to time in her childhood. Like the skis the three of them used on a vacation to Colorado, or the soccer ball that had belonged to Hollis that he kept leaving on the edge of their yard until Olivia had taken it to teach him a lesson.

But the thing that brought the biggest smile to her face was the car that sat perfectly parked in the center of the room. "No more taxis" she happily muttered to herself.

She bent over and peered inside the car. It was in immaculate condition. Almost as if her mother had bought it and left it parked inside the garage unused. Gripping the warm sides of her coffee cup with both hands, Olivia wondered where the keys to the car could be? She'd bet they were hanging up on the key hook on the living room wall. Looking inside the car once again, Olivia smiled when she saw that the gas tank was sitting on full.

Feeling a little more settled, and ready to get the day underway, Olivia turned to leave the garage and head back towards the house. A yelp escaped her lips as she was greeted by Jenson Grant. She slapped a hand to her heart and felt it pounding rapidly. "Jeez, Jenson! You scared me half to death!"

"You sure are jumpy." he replied with a grin. When she glared at him, he held out his hands, palms toward her, and said, "sorry. I saw the garage door open and thought I'd see what you were up to."

"Nothing really. Just looking around. I forgot my mother had a car here."

He looked over her shoulder, pointed at something, and said, "I don't remember you playing soccer."

She grinned at him triumphantly, as if she had just stolen the ball from Hollis that morning instead of fifteen years ago. "I didn't. Your brother kept leaving it outside after practicing until dark. Sometimes it would get left in our driveway. So, I decided to teach him a lesson and stole it."

"You little deviant!" he said with a chuckle. "I had no idea you had it in you."

"That's why he never suspected me." Her eyes flicked to the house across the street once again when she heard a familiar sound. She saw Fitz bringing the green plastic trashcan to the edge of their driveway. It was obvious that he wasn't dressed for work yet as his curls were going in different directions and he was wearing a pair of navy blue athletic shorts and no shirt.

She mentally wondered what was the deal with the Grant men not wearing shirts? She didn't mind so much this morning, however.

Fitz was watching Olivia and Jenson and she decided that she was going to stare right back at him. It was difficult not to. His body was in amazing shape. His arms were muscular, just as they had been when he was in high school. They were the product of daily workouts as part of the football team. His chest was broad with a light smattering of dark hair that covered the upper half. As her eyes traveled down to the lower half, Olivia's eyes were rewarded by the sight of Fitz's tight hair covered abs. She noticed that he had a scar line amongst the muscles there and wondered what it was from. That dark hair seemed to gather at his belly button and form a perfect line that disappeared under the waistband of his shorts.

Blinking a few times, Olivia turned her attention from the eye candy across the street and focused on the man who stood in front of her. Jenson was looking at her expectantly, and she realized she had no idea what he had said. Smiling brightly, she said, "I'm sorry. What did you just say?"

Jenson looked over his shoulder and rolled his eyes at his brother. Of course he had to bring the trash to the curb without a shirt on. Asshole. He seemed to still be bent on trying to impress Olivia. A smile crossed his face as he realized that Fitz hadn't sworn them to secrecy since high school. Surely the statute of limitations for that was over by now? An evil smile came across his face as he turned back to face Olivia.

Olivia narrowed her eyes at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Fitz had a big ole crush on you back in the day." Jenson dished.

Olivia's eyes flicked over Jenson's shoulder. But Fitz was already back in the house. "Your brother Fitz? I doubt it."

"It's true. When we were kids, he swore us to secrecy. Some stupid brother oath he came up with. If we told you he would have beat the shit out of us. He really had it for you bad." Jenson explained.

She didn't believe him for a second. "Fitzgerald Grant, a star of the high school football team, my neighbor for fifteen years, had a crush on me? The nerdy girl with glasses who lived across the street and plotted ways to get you all to move far away?"

"Yea."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because based on the way you just watched him like he was a snack on legs made me think you should know the feeling is mutual. You deserve to be happy."

"Even if that is true, that was a long time ago, Jenson. I'm sure he's dropped his high school crush over the past fifteen years. And for the record, I think all four of you are handsome. I just couldn't stand any of you when we were kids." she chuckled.

"Well, since we're clearing the air and all that, if we had to hear your name one more time than the five thousand times a day that we already heard it, Luke, Hollis, and I would have gone insane. So, if we acted like we didn't like you, that was the reason for it. We heard about you non stop from the time we got home from school until the time we went to bed. I think that was why Luke got into video games like he did. To get away from Fitz and his big Olivia Pope loving mouth."

"You are ridiculous!" Olivia said swatting his arm and chuckling loudly. "I always thought of you as my protector against your three brothers. You were so sweet to me and stuck up for me when they started running their mouths."

"I stuck up for you because I was in love with you." Jenson admitted with a smile. "I outgrew it when I realized there was no chance for anything other than friendship though. After a while, I realized having you for a friend was so much better than the fake relationship I had built up in my mind between us."

"Awww, Jen. You were...are a great guy. I'm really sorry if I hurt you when we were younger. You really are one of the good guys. Maybe the last one left in this world?" She opened her arms and stepped closer to him for a warm hug. "Thank you for telling me all of that. I don't think it changes anything, but it's nice to know that someone thought of me that way."

Slinging her arm affectionately around his neck and heading to the front door, Olivia said, "I'd really like to meet your wife before my time here is over and I head back home."

He grinned at her and replied, "You already have."

"I...Huh?" Her face scrunched up in confusion at his statement. "No, I haven't. I haven't seen anyone other than you all since I got here. And I didn't even see all of your brothers yet."

Jenson rocked back on his heels and slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "You knew her very well when we were in school. She rode our bus."

Her eyes went wide with shock, and she began to giggle. "You married Melanie Newton? I bet Hollis lost his..."

"Melanie Newton? Are you insane? That girl had the IQ of a rock." Jenson scoffed.

"It's why she and Hollis were such a cute couple for ten minutes." Olivia added. "Well, if you didn't marry Melanie, who did you marry that I knew?"

"Amber Kalfen." he answered proudly.

"You married my childhood best friend? Awwww! How amazing is that?" She went to hug him again and ended up shoving against his chest. "You turned my cool best friend into a Grant? That's so mean!"

"She loves being a Grant. She tells me all the time that she got the best one." His face turned slightly pink while telling her that little fact.

Olivia looped her arm through his and grinned up at him. "Of course she did. I'm really happy for you, Jen. Listen, I have a couple of meetings this morning that I need to get ready for, followed by running several errands. But I would love to have you and Amber and any kids you..."

Jenson put a hand firmly over Olivia's mouth. "Don't even finish that sentence! Amber and I don't have any kids yet and are completely happy with that. I don't know how we've escaped getting pregnant over the past six years since my family is the most fertile people in the south, but it's just the two of us."

She licked his palm and watched him drop his hand as if it was on fire. She laughed openly at him. "I get it. No kids yet. I'd like to invite you and Amber over for dinner tonight if you don't have plans."

He gave her a doubt filled look. "You cook?"

"Shut up! I can cook the basics, thank you very much." she giggled.

"It depends on what you're making."

"Well, last night when I was looking around for coffee, I noticed that my mother had quite a few ingredients for spaghetti. It's been on my mind ever since."

"Man, I wish Naomi was here to make spaghetti. Hers was better than my mothers." He watched as the smile faded from Olivia's face and decided to change the subject. "I'll...umm... talk to Amber and text you sometime this morning. Give me your number. She pulled her phone from the pocket of her robe and the two of them keyed in the other's digital information and parted with another warm hug.

As Olivia held her friend, she happened to glance up at that same window where she had seen movement earlier. He wasn't quite quick enough this time, and Olivia caught a blur of navy material dart out of sight. Jenson's words about Fitz liking her years ago tumbled into her brain. That had been fifteen years ago. They weren't kids anymore and things had changed dramatically since then. She went into the house with her empty mug and began to get ready for the day, putting all thoughts of Fitzgerald Grant out of her mind.

Her first appointment was at eight o'clock at the law offices of Armstrong and Peeples, and Olivia didn't want to be late. Her father had contacted the lawyers who used to be both his and Naomi's to request the early morning meeting for Olivia. She stepped back out into the heat an hour later wearing a short sleeved floral print sundress. She slid her sunglasses on her face and her bag onto her shoulder as she made her way toward the garage where she happily slid into the driver's seat of her mother's car.

Twenty minutes later, Olivia sat on the opposite side of a large conference room table. Both lawyers were present and were explaining the terms of Naomi Pope's will to her only child. Olivia was surprised to learn that her mother wanted to be cremated. She was thankful that her father had thought to schedule this meeting before the one at the funeral home. Naomi's will stated that her ashes be sprinkled by Olivia on a trip to Tennessee. The one that the family never got to take together. It also stated that Naomi wished to leave everything she owned to her daughter. The car, the house, all of her financial holdings, everything. Any money that resulted from the sale of any of her things - should she decide to go that route - would go to Olivia as well.

Olivia silently sat in the padded chair and listened to every word that was spoken. She had assumed that her mother would want everything sold and the money given to charity. She hadn't expected anything from her mother. Of course, she hadn't known her mother very well at all after her father had taken Olivia to Washington D.C. that night. Olivia never saw or spoke to her mother again after that.

A copy of the will was given to her, and Olivia shook the two attorney's hand and exited the small brick building. She sat in the car and turned the air conditioning on high. Her mother had left everything to her, including her ashes, for safe keeping. It seemed that a trip to Tennessee was going to be on her what I did on my summer vacation list. This would be a much somber trip than a typical family vacation, since Olivia would be bringing her mother's ashes with her and leaving them behind.

"I'm not going to Tennessee! That's insane." she told herself in the cool car.

She felt like crying, but the tears just wouldn't come for a mother who wasn't there during the most impressionable years a teenage girl needs her most. Olivia wished she didn't have to deal with all of this by herself but knew her father was not going to step foot back in the state of Georgia ever again. And definitely not to help deal with the last wishes of his ex-wife.

Olivia wondered what she would do with the house? Should see keep it? Sell it? Rent it out to strangers as a source of income? She had no doubt that it would sell quickly in the current market. She just wasn't sure she wanted to sell it. Or keep it. A heavy cloud of confusion and dread hung overhead. Sighing, she put the car in drive and followed the directions programmed in her phone to the funeral home.

The director of the funeral home explained to Olivia what was involved in a memorial service. The church her mother attended fairly regularly would be the location. The date was chosen once the director got in touch with the pastor of the church, who agreed and offered to help in any way that he could. Once everything was in motion, Olivia was left with the task of finding an urn and writing something for the service. She was thankful she had invited Jenson and Amber over for dinner. It would provide an excellent diversion from all of the memorial service plans.

Before she could leave the parking lot of the funeral home, she got a text from Jenson saying he and Amber would love to come for dinner tonight. She text him back saying dinner would start at six. With something new to think about for a while, Olivia drove to the grocery store and bought the items needed to make a salad and spaghetti. She grabbed a bottle of wine, knowing she would need a drink or two to take the edge off this horrendous day.

Parking the car in the garage, Olivia laid her head on the steering wheel. It was barely noon and she felt exhausted. She had to look for an urn, write an obituary for the newspaper as well as one for the memorial service, get everything together for refreshments afterwards – at the house, finish the school year back in D.C., figure out what to do with the house and car here, figure out if she would actually plan a trip to Tennessee for the scattering of her mother's ashes, and on and on. There was so much to do yet she didn't have the energy to do any of them. Closing her eyes, Olivia decided she would avoid it all by lying down for a while.

All of the groceries were hauled into the house and the cold stuff was put into the refrigerator, bag and all, while the rest of it was left of the counter to be dealt with later on. She slowly climbed the stairs and pushed open the door of her childhood bedroom. She flopped down on the bed face first and was asleep within minutes.

The dream she was having was a wonderful one. She was a girl again and her parents were still together. It was before any weirdness was noticeable between them. The three of them were discussing where they were going on their family trip that summer. They looked at the map of the United States that hung on a wall in the living room. Olivia mentioned Tennessee and both of her parents seemed to be thinking that over. When they each turned and gave her a smile, she knew her suggestion was where they would end up spending two weeks of their summer.

Her mother's smile faltered and then she crumpled to the floor and didn't move. Her father was on the phone setting up meetings while Olivia looked down at her mother with wide horrified eyes. She watched as her mother opened her eyes and repeatedly pounded on the floor with her fist and said, "I want to go to Tennessee, baby."

Startled, Olivia rolled over and landed on the floor with a thud. She looked around wildly, trying to remember where she was, and then it all came back to her. She sat up and pushed her hair out of her face. She heard the pounding again and her heart stopped beating for a moment. She listened intently to try to figure out where the sound was coming from as she looked for a weapon in her room. The only thing she found was a pink tennis racket in the corner, and Olivia grabbed it and held on like it was a bat.

The pounding was back.

She squinted. Was that coming from the front door? Keeping a death grip on the racket, Olivia tiptoed downstairs and silently made her way to the door. She could see that someone was out there, peering into the picture window. Her grip on the handle tightened. Whoever it was had decided to screw with the wrong woman. She gripped the doorknob and flung the door open with a loud yell and the tennis racket raised high over her head.

"What the hell are you doing?" Fitz asked calmly as he took in the sight of her. She had severe bed head, the hem of one side of her dress was tucked into the pocket, and she wore the expression of a crazy person. She looked like she wanted to hurt him, but at the same time, she looked really cute. "Are you okay?"

Olivia dropped the racket next to her covered thigh and squinted at him. "Were you banging on my door?"

"I was knocking on it. Yea."

"Why?" She still had cobwebs in her brain and yawned loudly as she waited for his answer.

"Well, I just got home from work, and this is when I used to check in on your mom. I thought I'd check in on you since you're still here. I hope that's okay?" He sounded like an idiot. He should just apologize and go home.

She studied him for a minute. He had on a pair of khaki pants and a striped polo. He had tamed his curls since she had seen him last, and she smiled, recalling that she had seen him looking less than perfect earlier that morning. Thank God she had been well put together when she laid down for her nap. He'd never see her other than looking great.

Olivia turned around and headed towards the kitchen. "You want some coffee?"

Fitz wasn't about to turn down spending a little more time with Liv. "Coffee would be great. Thanks."

Two blue eyes were riveted to her bare thigh when she turned the corner to step into the kitchen. How was he going to tell her that she needed to fix that? The fact was he didn't really want to tell her. It would be much nicer to enjoy the view a little longer.

She reached up to grab a filter from the cabinet and stuck it in its place in the top of the coffee pot. Her body was on auto pilot as she measured out dry granules and dumped them into the filter. Grabbing the coffee pot, Liv started walking towards the sink to add water.

Fitz stood beside the coffee maker and propped hid chin on his palm as his elbow rested on the countertop. Watching her every move was pure entertainment for him. Back in the recesses of his mind, Fitz knew he should tell her that her cute lavender panties were poking out at her hip. But the smooth, toned, cocoa skin that was also revealed had his mouth drier than the Sahara.

Pouring the water into the machine, Liv set it in its place and shot him a smile.

Fitz smiled back. He noticed that she forgot to turn it on but said nothing.

When she went to grab two mugs from the cabinet overhead and that sundress rose higher on her beautiful skin. Fitz quickly averted his eyes. There was a line. He wasn't really sure where that line was right now, but openly gawking while a woman was trying to do something nice for him, seemed to be where the line was currently at.

As Olivia's feet were coming from their tiptoes back down to their soles, one of the mugs slipped from her finger and fell to the floor, shattering on impact. "Shit" she muttered. And looking down at the floor was the exact moment she saw the side edge of her dress tucked messily into its pocket.

"Ohmygod!" she exclaimed full of embarrassment, as she yanked the bottom of her dress out of the pocket and rapidly smoothing it down on all sides. Just to be sure.

The disarrayed dress made Olivia wonder what her hair looked like, and her hands immediately shot up to check. Great. It was a mess too. Fitz was probably greatly amused at her ridiculous appearance; she thought as she smoothed her hair down.

Her eyes darted to his. He was grinning at her. She shook her head back and forth but grinned back at him at the same time. The odd thing was it didn't feel uncomfortable. "I'll grab the broom."

The mess had been cleaned up and thrown away. And then they were standing side by side leaning against the counter. Trying to think of something to say to take her mind off of what had just happened, Fitz casually asked, "You go grocery shopping today?"

Looking at him through squinted eyes, still rubbing his hand down her leg to make absolutely sure her dress was where it was supposed to be, she just as casually replied, "Yea, Jenson and Amber are coming over for dinner later."

"Ahhh, that's what the family reunion out front this morning was all about."

"You know you could've come over and asked us what we were discussing instead of spying on us." She had him there.

"I wasn't spying on the two of you. I was taking the trash to the curb."

"Oh? What about when you were up in your window afterwards?" She grinned superiorly now. Putting him on the spot felt better than knowing what he had just seen.

He squinted at her for calling him out on his stuff. "I liked you a lot better as a shy kid."

"Well, newsflash. That girl is gone. She left fifteen years ago."

"I'm well aware. I watched her go." Fitz muttered.

Olivia whirled on him with a confused expression. "You what?"

"Nothing." He had to get out of there before he told her much more. "Look, I just remembered that I have to go to the grocery store myself."

"But you just said you wanted coffee."

"I'll come by tomorrow and have some. Besides, you never turned it on." He started walking to the front door and could feel her following him.

Turning to see the coffeepot was, in fact, still off, Olivia rolled her eyes at her idiocy. "You don't have to check on me like you did my mother. I know she appreciated it, but I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You seem kinda...lost. Even though you spent fifteen years in this house, you seem unsure of things." He touched her face. "And you look tired."

She immediately swatted his hand away, but the warmth from his touch was still there. "I'm not lost. I know exactly where I am. And for your information, I was upstairs when you woke me up with your damned pounding on the door."

"Well, that was obvious. Your hair standing straight up was an indicator. Your dress bunched up in your pocket was a very nice sight but not very Olivia like." He decided to be bold, and swiped his thumb across her bottom lip, fully expecting her to attempt to bite it. "The fact that your lipstick is smeared on your cheek tells me that unless you had a man in here, you were out cold."

Again, Olivia swatted his hand away and gave him a smug look. "Maybe I hid the man upstairs before coming to the door? Maybe he was kissing me until I was weak in the knees when you interrupted us? Did you ever think of that?"

He tilted his head and grimaced. "If that's the case, he's a coward to not ensure your safety above his own and he doesn't deserve you." He stepped closer to her, and his eyes traveled all over her beautiful face. "If you ever want to be kissed like that, where you are left a dizzy puddle of desire, wanting more, you know where to find me."

Fitz walked towards the house across the street and tried unsuccessfully to ignore the feelings for Olivia Pope that he had repressed for a long time. It felt good to give her a hint of how he felt about her. What he would gladly still make her feel. Today was a good day.

Olivia watched him walk home...that wasn't really the right word. He was strutting proudly. Like a man who was on top of the world. When he had stepped inside the house and closed the door, she released the breath she had been holding. What the hell had that been? And where had it come from? Apparently, there was some truth to what Jenson had told her regarding Fitz. She would have to think about that later on. It was time to enjoy a cup of coffee and get started on dinner.