A/N: This is Liv's backstory. It's a bit more detailed, but she is new to Rutland also and she his meeting and chatting with new people. Again, it will take place in the past and end with the present. Happy Reading.

Chapter 8—Then and Now—Olivia's Story

Olivia's High School Junior Year

Olivia dreaded waking up every day and going to school. The big public school in the city, but not so big when most of the students have known you your whole life. There weren't too many in the high school that didn't know about her past and what she carried around with her.

When Olivia was a junior, just shy of her 16th birthday, Maya had asked her if she wanted the traditional sweet 16 gala which Olivia was quick to refuse. Maya had tried to give Olivia the best life after the accident without treading too much on the tragedy. She had gone to therapy with Liv, talked openly about her scars and recovery, and took the time to hold her during her nightmares. As much as she wanted for Liv have normalcy, there was a void and Maya knew she could never fill that void.

Respecting her child's wishes, but still worried, she let the subject go. Much to Maya's happiness, Olivia came home the second week of school talking about a new student, Tyler. Olivia was very reserved, ever since the incident in the locker room in middle school. She didn't trust anyone to share her story with, and Maya knew it held her child back from friendships and dating.

It wasn't long before Olivia was on the phone for hours with Tyler. They would talk about nothing and everything and Olivia would confide three months later to Maya how much she liked Tyler, more than just a friend.

Tyler didn't know her history but heard it soon enough from other students at school. Tyler didn't care what others told him about Olivia, he liked her and wanted to be more than a friend to her. Tyler came to NYC, living with his mother and two siblings. He had a future in basketball and before practices started up in November, he wanted to make sure Olivia was his steady girlfriend.

He began walking her home, and they talked on the way home. Olivia was hesitant when he grabbed her hand one day, in front of the whole student body and walked out of the school building. No one had ever shown affection to her like that. She had a good feeling about him and followed her gut that this was more than just a friendship.

By basketball season, Olivia was at every home game and talking to him before any away game. They were soon the popular couple at school, but that didn't change anything for Olivia. It was just Tyler in her eyes, she didn't want anyone else in her life at that time.

Once the season was over, she invited him to meet Maya and Maya was overjoyed for her daughter, having found some happiness in her life. She had a talk with Tyler, and he understood what Liv had gone through and was determined to be the positive she needed in her life. Maya, too, was smitten with Tyler and the dating continued.

They had a summer of love, and it was one afternoon when Maya was working late that her and Tyler went all the way. They were safe and used condoms and they were sure they both wanted to do it, with one condition, Liv didn't take off her shirt. Tyler understood the reason, and he didn't argue, having been so understanding and loving throughout their friendship and relationship. "When you are ready, I'll be here, but right now, let's enjoy this moment", Tyler had reassured her.

Both their senior years started, and they grew closer as the year went on. Tyler started getting scholarship offers for Division 1 colleges, and basketball season was starting up again. Olivia had finally let her guard down with someone other than her mother and allowed herself to love and to be loved.

She decided the next time they had time to go all the way again, Olivia would let Tyler in. She would let him see the scars, and trust that he wouldn't run, that he wouldn't be disgusted. With their schedules, though, it would have to be after basketball season.

There was an away game for that night, the night Liv would never forget. She talked to Tyler just before the team left on the bus, giving him a kiss for good luck in front of the team. Imagine Olivia's joy when Tyler returned the kiss, in front of all his teammates. He promised he would call her when he got home after the game.

It wouldn't be too long after Olivia was content with her happiness certain she had found love and things would work out, that she received the devastating phone call later that evening. It was Tyler's mother calling to speak to Maya.

Maya pulled her daughter aside eyes filled with tears and finding it difficult to find the words. "Mom, please, just tell me what's going on. Did Tyler get hurt?"

Maya braced herself to break her daughter's heart. She was scared what this news would do to Olivia, but it had to be done before she heard it from anyone else.

"During the game tonight, Tyler collapsed on the court. Medical personnel tried to revive him and rushed him to the nearest hospital. They couldn't save him Olivia, Tyler is gone."

Olivia couldn't catch her breath. She just stared at her mother, not believing a word she was saying. Maya must've become concerned because she patted Liv on the back, so she could take a breath. It didn't look like she had taken one for over two minutes.

Tyler had an undetected heart defect, and it was eventually what took his life on that court one cold January night. Olivia barely got through the funeral and became recluse the days following the funeral. She again found herself in extensive therapy, but as much as she cooperated with her treatment, nothing would convince her she wasn't cursed.

She felt she was cursed to never be loved and to never love. As much support that Tyler's family, Maya, her teachers, and her therapist was to her, Olivia closed inside. She was empty, a hollow numb feeling everyday she walked to school and into that building.

She felt the stares all over again. The girl everyone wanted to feel sorry for, but Olivia wouldn't have it. She focused the rest of her senior year on getting good grades and on the time, she had with Tyler. They had both lost their virginity to each other, and if Liv never found love again, it was fine with her. She had no intentions of ever being loved again.

Olivia did not go to her senior prom, did not attend any after graduation parties. She enrolled in summer business classes at NYU, where she had received a full scholarship. It was the summer after graduation she began to bury herself in work. It would be something she continued to do for years to come.

One year ago/NYC

"Mr. Harris, I am really not the company party type, so I am going to pass on the company gala on Friday. It's getting close to Thanksgiving, and I am making plans with my mother…

"So, the plans aren't made yet, correct. Please come Olivia, you are my most valued employee. You are CEO of the company and so many bankers and developers will be there. I want them to meet the brains behind their protection."

Olivia knew taking on the job as CEO would have its downfalls. The company galas were one of them. For the past two years she was able to swindle her way out of them, but this year Mr. Harris wasn't having it. He had been on the Cayman Islands the past two years also, so he didn't need her by his side. With everything he has done for her, she couldn't say no.

This was a cutthroat industry. Liv had been able to put her focus into her job and drown herself in work. The company was unique, rare on Wall Street and she had the barricade of being CEO and watching over the employees as they acted out her demands.

Mr. Harris had a unique company trusted by so many high money-making corporations. Olivia Pope had come in close to three years ago and swept the company from the basement to the of the top reputations on Wall Street.

The company Financially Yours, offers services of all aspects. Although the top corporations took care of their employees, Mr. Harris wanted an outside company for the employees to have. They rendered their services of providing life insurance, disability income insurance, credit union products, money management services and retirement planning. Olivia specialized in recruiting employees with all skills and direct them to recruit the best companies on Wall Street.

One of the companies Harris had been trying to get on board was a new, up and coming big corporation, Davis Industries. Davis Industries specialized in buying failing businesses and creating a market of success, even if it wasn't the same business he took. In other words, he dismantled the traditional mom and pop places, small housing, and low-income areas and he gentrified them.

Olivia heard mixed reviews about Edison Davis, the company's CEO and founder. When he approached her at the gala, it was clearly not business he had on his mind. Having met plenty of Edison Davis's in her day, Olivia brushed off the flirting and tried to keep the conversation business casual. When it wasn't working, she excused herself and walked away.

She composed herself, knowing how important it was for Mr. Harris to get Edison on board and decided on a different approach. She sent Huck over to speak to Edison, perhaps her pitch would sound better coming from a man. Sure enough, it worked. Huck had him on board and he would be meeting in the offices of Financially Yours on Monday.

Olivia decided to give Edison a chance when, after the meeting, and him signing on, he asked her out to dinner. The dating started as casual, as she didn't want to get involved with clients. Soon, Edison started to make his feelings clear. He wasn't aggressive at first, not by a long shot. Olivia was just relieved to finally feel something.

After a night of heavy drinking at a bachelor party, Edison found himself at Olivia's door. They had been on and off for six months and Olivia was feeling down that night Edison knocked on her door. She wouldn't call it making love as she had no feelings towards him. It was more like casual sex, and she felt worse afterwards, because Edison felt it was a beginning to a relationship. He didn't question her at the time why she didn't fully undress for him, but she knew it lingered on his mind.

Liv drowned herself in her work even more than before, not making any time for Edison. He was persistent, calling her office, calling her home, coming to her home. She had to tell the front desk to tell him she wasn't home if he came.

Huck installed cameras in her house, as she began to feel threatened by Edison. She went on a few more, two to be exact, casual dates with him, letting him know she wasn't interested, but Edison wasn't having it. She tried to keep him at bay, being a client, and a money making one, at that, but his constant calling continued.

Present: Her Last night in NYC

When Liv decided she would be leaving the industry, it wasn't because of Edison. It was for her own mental health. She just longed for something more than a high paying never ending corporate world job. It was a job so many would envy, but Olivia didn't want it, she knew from her history that life was too short to be living a lie.

That last night with Edison sealed the decision. When she arrived at his place, he was drunk, and he pulled her in. He started kissing her and telling her how much he loved her, and Liv was scared. She shouldn't have gone there, the cameras were at her place, but here she was. He began berating her about her being so powerful on Wall Street and a woman never should have that power, she belonged married to someone like him.

"Liv, you're not happy, I see it in your eyes. Give yourself a few more months at the job, get married to me, get pregnant, and live the high life like you deserve." Edison was ranting through his kisses to her.

"Edison, I have told you, you are not my future, please just accept that." Liv tried to go at that point and Edison started pleading with her. He cried about his loneliness and his need for her. Knowing he was drunk during all this, Olivia listened contently, and laid with him in the bed.

He fell asleep and she didn't. She stayed up that whole night, and when he awoke in the morning, that's when she told him she was leaving. She was going to a place to live her life, and it would be without him.

That was when he grabbed her, so hard he bruised her. She saw the anger in his eyes, and she heard the threat that she could never run from him, but she did, and she wouldn't let him ever back in her life. She had made him believe that he was a monster to never fully exposing her body to him and that was fine.

Present Day: Rutland, Vermont

Olivia stood in the kitchen of her new home. Fitz had received a call shortly after their kiss. It was from Bryce. They were meeting with vendors for the event on Friday. She didn't want him to leave, and he didn't want to leave, but this was still too new for them both. He took a few pictures with his cell and left with a silly smirk on his face that had Olivia laughing.

She had so much going on. The water heater being replaced, the gas and water finally going to be working, calling her mother, and finishing her unpacking. She also needed to make plans to meet with Abby and Lara. Her life of small-town living was falling into place despite the fear of the way she felt for Fitz, not for Fitz himself, but the feelings she couldn't control for him.

The kiss her and Fitz had shared lingered on her lips. She still felt his arms around her, and she was comfortable in her thoughts when her phone chimed. She looked down at the screen to find the pictures from Fitz.

"Best sunrise ever". That's what the text was with the pictures. There were three in total, one of them, their heads leaned together smiling to the camera, one of Liv, almost a silhouette, looking at the sunrise and one of Liv smiling for Fitz as the camera was still focused on her. Beneath the one of her smiling, he had written "the most beautiful smile on Earth." As Liv read those words her heartbeat faster and a knot grew in her stomach. Was she worthy of him, to eventually make things serious with him? His way with words, his voice, his eyes, everything about him, she just couldn't shake the connection they seemed to have. He was so good, and she didn't understand the darkness he was afraid of.

She would never try to imagine a life as a soldier at war, but it seemed deeper than just that. He always tensed up whenever her hands would move from his face or hair. There was something more and he had things to share as much as she did.

Her phone chimed again and this time a different feeling overcame her. It was a feeling of fear that soon changed to anger as she read Huck's text.

"An older gentleman by the name of Harold called the office today looking for you. He left a message to call him immediately with an RE: Edison. Call me when you have a chance."

Suddenly Olivia remembered what Edison took. It was her pictures of Harold and Betty she had left on her fridge. Knowing how cutthroat Edison was, he had threatened Harold and she wouldn't be surprised if she heard from Betty soon. She was dreading the inevitable, but she would have to get back to New York to put a stop to Edison. She texted Huck back.

"Please tell Harold not to worry, I will call him tomorrow. I will call you later. Tell him you have been in touch with me. I have to go; water heater being installed now."

She walked to the door and greeted a friendly gentleman from the company Fitz had recommended.

"Hello Ms. Pope, I'm Jefferson, Fitz said you needed a water heater. I am heading down to the basement. The whole process should be 3-4 hours, so don't mind me."

"Take your time, do you accept credit cards? Is there a number I call to pay the bill?"

He looked at her a bit puzzled. "You don't think I am charging you for this do you? If it wasn't for Fitz, I never would have had this job. He loaned the money to me to open this company, he got me a great reputation here and in the towns of Randolph, Middlebury, and Hartford. This is just a small favor for him. The way he talked about you, he wants only the best and ma'am, you have the best, I assure you."

"Thank you", is really all Olivia could say. She hadn't heard one bad thing, one negative thing about Fitz from anyone she had met these past few days. What did Jefferson mean, the way he spoke about her? Again, thoughts of Fitz clouded her train of thought. She felt herself curl up in his arms after her dream last night, all she could feel was comfort. She looked back down at the pictures on her phone and asked Jefferson if he would mind staying there alone while she ran an errand.

She stared at the rental car in the driveway. She took a deep breath and looked up the road. Straight, then a left, then another left, and two miles to the stores. I can do this. She closed her eyes. "Bad things happened to me over there." She heard Fitz's voice.

Forget the fear, she was doing this. Fitz had done so much for her, it's the least she could do for him. She hopped in the car. She gripped the steering wheel and slowly headed to town. Thoughts of Fitz calmed her nerves, and she was determined to get this done.

Liv braved her fears and made it to the Phototec shop on Main Street. She bought some frames, had her pictures from the phone that Fitz sent printed. The shop had some gift bags that she also purchased.

The owner, Francesca, greeted her warmly, and welcomed her to Rutland. Olivia was finally able to pay for something, as Francesca didn't know her full connection with Fitz. She did, however, mention something when she saw the picture.

"I never saw Fitz so happy", as she looked at the picture of Liv and Fitz together. "Usually he so friendly and kind, but there seems to be depression about him. Glad you two found each other."

"Thank you. He's been a great neighbor, very helpful with my move in over the weekend to Rutland."

"You'll love it here. And, if you can keep Mellie at bay, that would be even more of a plus for Fitz. Enjoy your purchase. See you soon Ms. Pope."

"Please, call me Olivia." Olivia crossed her eyebrows. "Mellie? I haven't met Mellie." She said a bit confused. "I look forward to seeing you soon also. Thank you again. You have a lovely shop."

She headed to Sophie's next. She had ordered dinner for her and Fitz when she had called and spoke to Abby. She also had to pick up the basics now that she had a refrigerator and freezer.

Abby greeted her with a big hug and two trays that she set down on the counter. "You do not know how happy you have made my….."

"Olivia!" Sophie came out and grabbed her to a hug. Now she knows where Abby gets it from.

"Hi Sophie," Olivia hugged back. "Thanks so much for cooking on such short notice."

Sophie waved her hand. "Don't mind at all. I am so happy to know Fitz is eating. The way I worry about him…" she stopped mid-sentence. "Anyway, enjoy the dinner with him. Let me know what you think of the food. Get my number from Abby." She turned and started chatting with other customers that had entered.

"This one is a basic tossed salad, topped with mom's homemade dressing. This one has four meatball heroes in it. Fitz loves mom's homemade meatballs, so this will surprise him." She asked Liv for her phone.

"I'll put my number in there with my mom's also. She really does worry about Fitz. I am sure he won't turn down having dinner with you."

"He didn't. I texted him as soon as your mom told me she would put something together."

"So, I heard you met Lara and girls last night. They really liked you."

"I did and the feeling is mutual. They are a lovely family. I hear you and Lara are close."

"We are. You'll have to come with us on a girl's night out. We would love to have you."

Liv nodded. "Abby, who is Mellie?"

It was the first time Olivia did not see a smile on Abby's face. Her face turned cold. "Why do you ask? Don't tell me that conniving…..is she here?"

"No, I mean, I don't know, who is she? I don't know if she's here if I don't know her." Olivia was even more curious now.

"Every several months she comes here. She is a friend of Fitz's father. Well, her family and his family are old friends. Fitz is miserable when she is here, but he doesn't have it in him to be up front with her. She clearly wants to have a relationship with him, but he won't have it. They do have a history, and Mellie never got over it. God, I hope she isn't here. How did you hear about her?"

"Francesca mentioned how happy Fitz has been. Then she told me to keep Mellie at bay. I had no idea what she was talking about."

"Yeah, Mellie isn't well liked. She uses Fitz. She guilts him into doing things for her. No one in town likes her and we are happy when she isn't around. She was last here a few months ago, maybe four or five months ago. Fitz was here more than he was home. Hopefully he'll tell her about you, and she'll take the hint. Fitz seems beholden to his father to help her."

Liv was in deep thought. She thought back to the phone call. Perhaps that's the "her" Fitz was talking to his father about. She nodded at Abby. "Abby, don't mention anything to him about it, I don't want to upset him or distance him."

"You have my word, Olivia, just keep an eye out for her and let me know if you hear or see anything."

"Will do, thanks. I am going to look for some items. "

Fitz had a humble heart. He did things for others not expecting anything in return, this came obvious to Liv in such a short time. That was noble of him, but Liv wanted to be the one that changed that, let him know how deserving he is of happiness and not darkness.

Before she left, she stopped to talk to Abby again.

"I'm having lunch with Lara on Wednesday; would you like to join us. I am going to get schooled on the Fairy Tale Festival."

"Oh, I would love that. You know Fitz is the founder of that Festival, and he's never gone. Is he coming this year? Oh my God, are you going to create a tale for him?"

"Not sure yet, I am still unaware of what I am getting myself into." She took the things, with Abby's help, to her car and drove off.