Fitz steps out of the elevator.
With his hands inside the pocket of his black and wearing an unbuttoned trench coat, he walks with his head up high and observes every detail. His eyes gaze around the entrance with its cold lights.
He's thought about this place many times before, and considered appearing out of the blue, for advice, or some company. This felt different. The two secret service agents, one at each side, much less than when he was still in office, did nothing to deter the uniqueness of this situation.
He chuckles to himself. This was a privilege. On this cold afternoon he, the former president of the United States, was walking into his girlfriend's building, her work building. There was no just them anymore. No longer secluded to their life they're slowly building together.
As he stands and waits for the agents to walk out to secure the area, a grin remains on his face.
When he crosses the threshold to the office he can feel eyes on him. The faces are unknown to him but solely by the descriptions Olivia has given him on his left it should be Harrison, wearing a gray suit and a red tie, the man seems to hold back amusement, mischief in his eyes while the rest of his face remains blank. And to his right, there is a short man with a buzzcut. Huck. If Olivia had never mentioned anything of his appearance, solely by energy, Fitz is sure he could guess who he was. The stare coming from him pointed and distrustful.
Fitz holds his breath. The three of them exchange looks for what feels like an eternity, a heaviness in the air, which could certainly have been avoided had he no security or if they simply knew he was going to be there. He needed to work on a different setup with Olivia.
"Hi! Harrison, right?" Fitz finally breaks the silence and offers his hand for a shake.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. President," Harrison offers a charming smile and takes Fitz's hand in his, the grip is much firmer than he expected.
"And Huck?" Huck's gaze pierces him and the man gives no indication that he's heard him. Fitz lets out a sigh of relief when he sees Olivia's figure show up in his peripheral vision
"Fitz."
He gives Huck a small nod and pulls back his hand, unshaken. Can't conquer them all on a first try, he excuses himself and walks to Olivia.
"What was that?" Olivia asks after shutting her office door closed.
"Awkward."
"I mean…what did you expect?"
"Nothing really. Happy I can associate the names with the faces," Fitz grins as if that's the greatest gift in the world and Olivia rolls her eyes.
"Did you get everything you needed?" Fitz asks.
"Just some boxes, tapes, and some cleaning supplies just in case."
Fitz nods. "Are you okay?" he asks with concern. "We can do this another time if you want."
"No," Olivia shakes her head vehemently. "I want to get this over with," her voice is normal but her eyes are blank.
Fitz nods gently. "You're gonna leave your car here?'
"No, I asked Huck to leave it at my building."
"Ok, then." Fitz steps toward Olivia and puts his hands on each of her elbows pulling her closer to him. "Ready to go?" He waits, watching her face and the way she looks straight ahead at his chest. He can feel her warm breath and the sharp exhales on his chest. He doesn't dare to move a muscle, no desire to disrupt the rollercoaster of emotions she must be experiencing. Satisfied enough to be a calming presence, he gives her a tender smile when she finally looks up.
"Yes," she finally answers, with a confident tone.
"Let's grab everything and go then," he chirps, the wrinkles in his eyes showing.
Olivia opens up the front door and turns on the light of her father's house. It looks abandoned. Everything remains in place, exactly as it's always been, but it's clear no one lives here.
Her body trembles, the movement unnoticeable. The sight in front of her is identical to when she stepped in for the first time after being sent away to boarding school. Familiar and uninvitable. Olivia motions for Fitz to walk in. She chose to do this. She could've made everything disappear and she would have forgotten all about it, none of it would ever have been real, a memory of another life.
The thought of doing so caused dread. Too many memories would be lost and not all of it bad. Many things deserved to be saved, not only the wine collection. So here she is. Other people's chaos and lives were always easier to deal with. Olivia compartmentalizes her feelings and motions for Fitz to walk in.
He takes a couple of steps after the front door. "It's a nice house."
"Thank you," Olivia says, fully meaning it. "I have a cleaner come here every month to keep everything as it used to be."
Fitz nods, trying to understand Olivia's connection to this place.
Olivia shrugs. "We won't get everything done today."
"I figured. There's an entire life here."
Olivia pulls a hair tie out of her bag and wraps her hair in a bun. She leads them to the living room closet, more specifically to the case where her father's complete vinyl collection lies.
They run their eyes through the different shelves and Fitz runs his fingers through the top shelf, "This is–" he stops exasperated. "Wow. We're definitely keeping these."
"We?"
"Yes, for our house," he says easily. When he looks down Olivia's brown eyes could swallow him whole, instead she only shakes her head with a smile. "I'll get the boxes and start putting everything in."
Olivia turns around to open different doors and plan how she's going to do this and immediately Fitz calls out her name. "Liv!"
Fitz shows her his most recent find, a signed copy of "This Old Heart of Mine" with a child-like grin and a question in his eyes. His smile is so wide, there's no one else she would rather be here with.
"The player is over there." She points to his left.
"Thank you." He stops by Olivia first and squeezes her shoulder before making his way to the record player. "He had great taste."
"One of the few good things about him. Wait until you see the wine."
"You haven't raided it yet?'
She tenses up a little, "No. But I always made sure the refrigeration system was working. Losing all of that? Now that would be a shame." Olivia clenches her jaw. "The first time I came here after he died it was my first time in years. When I looked at what he had in the cellar was when I found out he kept a stash of du Bellay saved. All of the bottles were unopened."
"It was a gift." He looks at her with a small frown. "Were you ok?
"I never expected much from him. I wish he'd told me. Maybe the one unselfish thing he's ever done and he didn't mention it."
"You have a new good memory of him now."
Olivia is silent. The music fills the air and she moves through the different furniture, boxing books, and photo albums, deciding quickly what she wants to keep and what she wants to discard.
Fitz completes one box full of records and goes after tape to seal it. "You know, this place explains a lot about you."
"What? That I'm an only child?"
Fitz chuckles. "Yeah, that too. But I meant your taste. Understated but bougie."
"Ouch." She brings her hands to her heart. "It is obvious, isn't it? The taste, the lack of pictures, it's all part of it."
Fitz stops to look at her. Given the circumstances, she looks somewhat controlled. With the record on, she seems to reminisce of a different time and he leaves her to it. He gets a new box and picks up from where he left off.
"The only way to make you happier would be telling you there's bourbon," Olivia points out.
"Is there?" he asks hopefully.
"No, sorry. My father wasn't a fan of brown liquor"
He raises his eyebrows. "That would be too good to be true," he sighs. "Liv, there are some records here that I own, should I still pack them?"
"Maybe somewhere separate? They could make good gifts."
"Okay." He watches her work for an instant. "Are you keeping all the books?"
"I don't know. There's so much. I'm leaning towards keeping only what I find interesting. He wasn't a collector but I'm afraid to let a rare edition of something go by accident. Can you believe he organized using the Dewey Decimal System?" Olivia groans.
"I believe it." Fitz smiles slyly. Do you want a massive bookshelf? One of those you need a huge stair to reach the top?"
"I used to think I was too much of a minimalist for that. But…I can see you in an armchair with a fireplace next to you."
"We'll figure something out."
"Dark wood, covering multiple walls. Somewhere near the winery or a drawing room."
"That sounds nice," Fitz muses, already planning the phone calls he'll have to make. "Were you always more into mountains than the beach?"
"I don't know. I think so. I like to pretend I'm someone else when I'm at the beach. It's fun but it's not real."
"That explains Vermont." His words surprise her, never having made the connection before.
"Here." She extends to him a photograph she had set aside.
Fitz takes it in. The colors of the picture are faded, but it's Olivia standing behind a tall cake that held an unrecognizable number of candles, surrounded by a group of other kids. "You were adorable. Those cheekbones. How old were you?"
"Seven."
"These are your cousins?" he asks and sits down on the floor next to her.
"Most of them, yeah."
"You looked happy."
"I was. Things were different back then. But there's nothing I wouldn't do to not relieve it. Being a child is overrated."
"The only thing I miss is people not knowing who I am, being able to walk places. That's a lie," he reconsiders. "I miss my mother too."
"I used to think a lot about what would happen if people knew. What they would say, if I'd be able to do my job, how my world would change, the looks I'd get."
"And now?"
"Nothing could be worse than what would have happened if it got out before."
"That's certainly true." He laughs.
"The people I care about know."
"You don't mind if it affects your career?"
"At this point, it's worth it. I don't want to hide anymore. We're talking about meeting family. Even if it feels weird and awkward now–"
"This is what's important," Fitz interrupts.
"Yes."
They used to carry such a loaded and heavy burden, her situation was something he would never completely understand. The risks for her life and her position were much greater than whatever consequence he could possibly face.
Shame was what they both shared, what would've remained as a breach between them even if she had never left, dripping through and poisoning every semblance of hope that appeared before them. Now it is gone and they get to plan a life together. The world only spins forward indeed.
"We need to figure out what we'll do about Cyrus." She eyes him with a pained expression.
"I know," Fitz groans. "Any ideas?"
"We can always lie," Olivia says and looks up at Fitz with a straight face until they both laugh.
"That would hurt him less."
"You know, he once told me love was only useful as political ammunition."
"God. I hope James doesn't find out about it." Fitz groans.
"We can go out, the three of us. We haven't been in the same room for eight years, it'd be fun. We say hello then spring out that we had an affair behind his back. That'd hurt him more than you getting a divorce."
"Olivia Pope, fixer, I'm leaving it in your hands."
"I'll think about it but we need to do it together so he doesn't end up resenting the other."
"Alright."
Olivia taps her fingers against Fitz's thigh. "Sometimes I think about what my life would've been like if I had told him no. If I didn't leave my job to volunteer for a presidential campaign with a candidate who had already been raised in politics. On paper, you didn't sound very appealing. I could've easily done something else."
"That wouldn't have been the same would it?
"No, it would not."
"You changed my life."
"I made you a president," Olivia replies with a confident air.
"I don't know what I would have done if I lost. It wouldn't have been pretty. I like to think I would have come back to you sooner rather than later in that scenario."
"Those are dangers of the 'what-ifs'."
Olivia stares at Fitz for a beat and pouts. "What?" he asks.
"I think we should raid the wine."
"We just got here."
"It'll be easier. And less boring."
"You know we'll get distracted, right?" He draws small circles on her arm.
"Obviously."
"Where is it by the way?'
"The basement."
"You never got tempted to raid it before this?"
"No," She shakes her head. "It feels more personal than the pictures."
Fitz nods. "We'll need a big enough place to keep all that wine."
"I know. I've already thought about it."
"Okay," he replies as satisfaction, relief, and joy flood through him.
Olivia stands up and offers her hand to help him get up. "Let's drink."
A/N: I'm sorry for how long it took for this update, unfortunately, the next one should take a while too. I used to write while I was in line for lunch and my schedule has changed and I've been trying to balance many things at once which hasn't left me a lot of time to write.
A/N 2: I needed a chapter before the gala just to set a few basic things like Fitz meeting both Harrison and Huck so he could have some contact with part of Olivia's life he didn't have before. I'm planning on two or three more chapters depending on how well the writing flows then I'm wrapping up. It'll take a little while to write it but I hope if you've come so far you'll get there with me :)) Don't forget to review, they do mean a lot, I re-read them all the time!