AN: Here's my attempt at continuing this story. We pick up right where we left off. Please leave a review and let me know if you want to read more or I can leave it right here. Xx
The Next Day
Olivia woke up to sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows of her sister's guest bedroom, her eyes heavy from a night of restless sleep. Her dreams had been fragmented—images of Fitz's face, their moments of laughter, and the painful confessions that had unraveled them. The sound of her phone buzzing beside her broke the silence.
A text from Nicole lit up the screen: Brunch later? Let's catch up on the insanity of life. She was grateful that her sister was texting her instead of rushing in the room as she was not yet ready to face anyone.
She stared at the message for a moment, then typed out a quick response. Sure. Noon?
Today marked another day of uncertainty—another day of pretending like she had it together when, in reality, she felt anything but.
As she sat up and stretched, her phone buzzed again. This time, it was Fitz.
Fitz: Morning, Livvie. I don't want to push, but can we talk about last night? After their conversation on the bench, they parted ways. She went back to her sister's place while he went to their penthouse.
She hovered over the message, her finger hesitating over the screen. She was still spent from the way their conversation ended last night, she wasn't sure she had it in her to dive back into that emotional abyss just yet.
Instead of replying, she sat up straighter and enjoyed the view of the city stretched out before her, the bustling life of New York feeling so distant from the turmoil inside her.
As she stared out at the skyline, her thoughts drifted back to her sister's words: "Do you love yourself enough to want better?"
The question lingered in her mind, and she wasn't sure of the answer. She had spent so long loving Fitz, putting his needs above her own, that she had forgotten what it meant to love herself. Now, standing at the edge of a decision that could change everything, she wasn't sure if she was strong enough to walk away or too broken to stay.
By the time noon rolled around, Olivia had decided she needed an escape from the heavy cloud of her thoughts. She threw on a pair of oversized sunglasses, slipped into a comfortable yet chic ensemble, and headed out to the living room to meet her sister. Nicole was already dressed, looking effortlessly stylish as always in a flowy dress and large statement earrings.
"Girl, you look like you haven't slept in a week," Nicole said with a playful smirk, though her eyes softened with concern.
Olivia chuckled weakly. "You're not wrong."
Nicole looked at her sister with sympathy, truly wishing she could take away her pain. Instead, she grabbed her hand and led her out the door.
The café was bustling with the usual Saturday brunch crowd when they arrived. Thankfully Nicole knew the host and they were able to be seated quickly. As the waiter approached, Nicole ordered mimosas for the both of them, then turned her attention back to Olivia, her expression serious. "So, how are you really doing?"
Olivia sighed, feeling the weight of her words before they even left her mouth. "I don't know, Nic. It's like I'm stuck in this limbo where I don't want to let him go, but I also don't know if I can stay."
Nicole nodded, taking a sip of her mimosa. "I get it. I mean, you two have built a life together, and I know you love him. But you've got to ask yourself—are you holding on because you're scared of the unknown or because you really think there's something left to save?"
Olivia thought about it for a moment, her fingers tracing the rim of her glass. "I think it's both. I'm scared of being alone, of starting over. But... I also feel like there's a part of me that still believes we can fix this. That we can find a way back to each other."
Nicole leaned back in her chair, studying Olivia with a thoughtful expression. "Maybe you can. But you also need to be prepared for the possibility that it won't work out. And that's okay, Liv. You can't lose yourself trying to save something that's already broken."
Olivia nodded slowly, the reality of Nicole's words sinking in. Maybe it was time to stop trying to pick up the pieces of something that wasn't worth saving. Maybe it was time to let go.
But could she?
Days passed in a blur of routine and avoidance. Olivia went through the motions, working, and trying to distract herself from the looming decision hanging over her head. Fitz had texted her a few more times, but she hadn't responded. Every time his name lit up on her screen, her heart tightened, torn between the desire to hear his voice and the fear of facing the inevitable.
It was a Friday evening when the silence became too heavy to bear. She was sitting alone on the couch, Nicole was at work, nursing a glass of wine, the empty space around her a constant reminder of the life she was trying to navigate without him. The weight of it all became unbearable.
Without thinking, she picked up her phone and called him.
He answered on the second ring. "Livvie?"
"Hey," she whispered, her voice barely audible.
"Hey." His voice was soft, filled with an emotion she couldn't quite place. Relief? Hope? Pain? Maybe all three.
There was a long pause before she finally spoke. "I don't know what to do, Fitz."
His breath hitched on the other end of the line. "I don't know what to do either, Livvie. But I don't want to lose you."
Tears welled up in her eyes, her chest tightening with the weight of it all. "But I don't know how to move past this. How do we come back from something like this?"
"I don't have the answers, but I want to try. I want to do whatever it takes to make this right."
"But what if it's not enough?" The words slipped out before she could stop them, the fear and doubt finally spilling over.
"Then we'll deal with that when we get there. But I can't give up on us, Livvie. Not yet."
She closed her eyes, the tears now freely falling. "I'm just... so tired, Fitz."
"I know, baby. I know. But you don't have to carry this. Let me do the carrying. Please."
For a moment, she didn't respond. The silence between them felt heavy, but also comforting in a way. It was a silence that spoke of love and pain, of hope and fear.
"Okay," she whispered. "Let's try."
The decision to try again didn't come with a magic solution or instant relief. It wasn't as if everything suddenly fell into place. Instead, it was a slow, painful process, one filled with ups and downs, moments of progress and setbacks. But it was something. And for the first time in a long time, Olivia felt like she wasn't drowning.
Their couples therapy sessions with Dr. Dublin became more frequent. Each session brought up buried emotions, long-held resentments, and moments of brutal honesty. It was hard, but it was necessary.
At their most recent therapy session, the room was quiet except for the steady hum of the air conditioner. Olivia sat on one side of the couch, her arms folded tightly across her chest, as if shielding herself from the weight of the conversation she knew was coming. Fitz sat beside her, his hands wringing in his lap, the space between them palpable. His face was etched with regret, and his eyes were fixed on the floor.
Dr. Dublin watched them closely from her armchair, her expression gentle but firm. She had been working with couples long enough to recognize the profound silence that filled the room—the kind that spoke of unspoken pain, of walls built high and thick.
After a long pause, Dr. Dublin spoke, her voice calm and steady. "Fitz, you've explained to Olivia what happened, but I think it's important that you share it here, in this space. Olivia needs to hear why it happened, from your perspective, and you need to explain it, fully."
Fitz exhaled deeply, his shoulders slumping. He'd gone over this in his head so many times, but it never got any easier to talk about. He glanced at Olivia, who still refused to look at him, her eyes fixed on the far corner of the room, her jaw set. His heart sank further.
"I've told you this already, Livvie, but I'll say it again," Fitz began, his voice shaky. "That night... I didn't plan for anything to happen. I was drunk, yeah, but that's not an excuse. I knew better. I should have just gone back to my hotel room after the work dinner. But… I didn't. I let myself get too comfortable with her—my secretary. We'd been working late a lot, and I thought it was just professional. Until it wasn't."
Olivia's fingers tightened around her arms, her breathing shallow, but she stayed silent.
Fitz wiped his hands on his pants, his voice wavering as he continued. "I didn't even realize what was happening until it was already happening. She went down on me... and I let it happen for a moment. But then—then I stopped her. I swear, Livvie, I stopped her. It didn't go any further. We didn't sleep together. As soon as I realized what I was doing, I made her stop."
Olivia flinched at the words. The image of another woman's hands on him, her lips on him, flashed through her mind like a cruel, endless loop. Her heart pounded in her chest, her throat tightening as the betrayal she had been trying so hard to push down rose to the surface again.
Dr. Dublin gave Olivia a moment, then asked softly, "Olivia, what's coming up for you right now? Can you put into words what you're feeling?"
For a moment, Olivia didn't respond. She felt as if there was a boulder on her chest, suffocating her. Finally, she turned to look at Fitz, her eyes filled with tears, her voice trembling with a mixture of rage and pain. "It doesn't matter that you stopped, Fitz. It doesn't matter that it didn't go 'all the way.' You let her touch you. You let her… do that to you. And I wasn't even a thought in your mind."
Fitz's face crumpled at her words, his guilt weighing him down like lead. "I swear, Livvie, it wasn't about her. It wasn't even about wanting her. I was drunk, and I was stupid, and I was feeling… disconnected from us. I just—I let myself make the worst mistake of my life."
Olivia's voice sharpened, cutting through the air like a blade. "Disconnected? From us? How is that supposed to make me feel better? You don't get to feel disconnected, Fitz. You don't get to turn to someone else just because we've been having problems. We're supposed to work through it together, not with some woman who clearly has no respect for me or for you!"
Fitz wiped his eyes, his voice breaking. "I know. I know I messed up. And I'm so, so sorry. I can't stand that I hurt you like this. You have every right to be angry. You have every right to hate me for what I did."
Olivia's anger flared again, her voice rising as she fought to hold back the sobs. "I trusted you! And you threw it all away because things weren't perfect? Because you were too much of a coward to talk to me about how you were feeling?"
Fitz couldn't look at her. He felt hollow, gutted by the pain in her voice, knowing that he was the cause of it. "It wasn't just that, Livvie," he said quietly, hesitating before continuing. "It was… everything. I felt like I was losing you. We'd been together for years, and we weren't moving forward. It felt like we were stuck. Still just... boyfriend and girlfriend. No real commitment. And I guess, somewhere deep down, that made me feel like what we had wasn't solid anymore. Like we weren't real. I know that's not an excuse, but it's how I felt."
Olivia blinked, stunned by his admission. "So, you're saying this is my fault? That because we didn't get married, you felt like you could just… go off and do whatever you wanted?"
"No, no, that's not what I'm saying," Fitz said quickly, his voice full of desperation. "This isn't your fault. It's mine. I should've talked to you about how I was feeling. I should've told you that I was scared—scared that we weren't on the same page anymore. But instead of talking, I shut down. And I did the stupidest thing I could've done."
Dr. Dublin, who had been listening intently, leaned forward slightly. Her voice was calm but firm as she addressed both of them. "What I'm hearing from you, Fitz, is that there were feelings of fear and insecurity that you weren't dealing with—feelings that led you to make a terrible choice. And Olivia, I hear your pain, loud and clear. You feel betrayed because you trusted him, and he violated that trust in one of the most intimate ways possible."
Olivia nodded, her tears flowing freely now. She didn't try to hide them. "He made me feel like I wasn't enough. Like all these years of being by his side, of building a life together, didn't mean anything. Because if it did, he wouldn't have done what he did."
Dr. Dublin paused, letting Olivia's words sink in before she continued. "Fitz, it's clear that the lack of formal commitment—the fact that you two never married—was a source of insecurity for you. But instead of addressing that, you allowed it to fester. And when those insecurities grew too big, you sought comfort in the wrong place. What you need to understand is that real commitment isn't just about a ring or a marriage license. It's about emotional commitment. It's about having the hard conversations, even when it's uncomfortable."
Fitz nodded, tears streaming down his face now, too. "I should've talked to you, Livvie. I should've told you how I was feeling. I know that now. But instead, I made the worst decision of my life, and I hurt the person I love most."
Dr. Dublin turned to Olivia, her voice gentle. "Olivia, you've expressed that you feel betrayed not just by Fitz's actions, but by the underlying insecurity in your relationship. His decision to let someone else in feels like a reflection of how he values your relationship and that's deeply painful."
Olivia wiped her eyes, her voice thick with emotion. "It feels like he threw everything away. Everything we've built. Because we didn't have a piece of paper that said we were 'official.'"
Dr. Dublin nodded, her expression compassionate. "It's understandable that you feel that way. And Fitz, you need to acknowledge that Olivia's hurt isn't just about the physical betrayal—it's about the emotional betrayal. She's questioning whether she can trust you again, whether your love is strong enough to withstand this."
Fitz looked at Olivia, his heart breaking at the sight of her pain. "I know I've shattered your trust, Livvie. But I love you more than anything. I don't want anyone else. I want you. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to prove that to you."
Dr. Dublin spoke again, her tone steady. "Healing from something like this takes time. It's not just about apologizing and moving on. It's about rebuilding that trust, brick by brick. And Fitz, that's going to require patience and consistency from you. Olivia, you need to decide what you need from him to feel safe again. This isn't a decision you have to make today, but it's something you'll need to consider."
Olivia nodded slowly, her tears still falling, but the intensity of her anger had dimmed slightly. "I don't know if I can ever trust you the same way again, Fitz."
Fitz's face crumpled, but he nodded. "I understand. But I'm not giving up on us. I'm willing to fight for this—for you—for as long as it takes."
Dr. Dublin leaned back slightly, her voice calm but encouraging. "This process will be difficult, but it's possible to heal if both of you are willing to put in the work. The question now is whether you both want to rebuild, together."
They sat in silence for a moment, the weight of everything pressing down on them. The road ahead would be long,
and uncertain, but for the first time in weeks, there was a glimmer of something different in the air—hope, maybe, or the faint possibility that they could start to piece together the shattered fragments of what they once had.
Olivia shifted slightly in her seat, taking a deep breath as if she were about to jump into freezing water. She wiped away the remaining tears on her cheeks, her voice quiet but steady when she finally spoke. "I don't know what the future holds for us. I'm still angry, and I don't know if that anger will ever fully go away. But... I don't want to make any decisions out of that anger. I need time. I need to see if I can even imagine trusting you again."
Fitz swallowed hard, feeling a mixture of relief and heartache. He nodded, his voice breaking slightly as he said, "I'll give you all the time you need, Livvie. I know I can't rush this or force anything. But I'll be here, ready to do whatever it takes to fix what I broke."
Dr. Dublin nodded, her gaze moving between them. "Olivia, you've taken a courageous step by allowing yourself to express your pain today. That's not easy, and I want you to acknowledge that for yourself. This is a process, and it will take time—time to rebuild trust, time to heal, and time to decide what you want. There's no right or wrong way to move forward from here. What matters is that you give yourself permission to feel everything that comes up."
Olivia nodded, her body still tense, but something in her face had softened slightly. There was still hurt, still deep anger, but there was also a small willingness to see what might come next.
Dr. Dublin turned to Fitz, her voice gentle but firm. "Fitz, you've expressed deep remorse, which is an important first step. But you also need to be prepared for the long road ahead. It's not just about saying you're sorry or waiting for Olivia to heal. It's about actively working to rebuild the trust that was broken, and that requires consistency, patience, and transparency. You'll need to show, not just tell, that you're committed to this relationship and to Olivia's healing."
Fitz nodded quickly, his hands gripping his knees as if holding on for dear life. "I will. I'll show her that I'm not going anywhere. I'll do whatever it takes, Dr. Dublin. I don't want to lose her."
Dr. Dublin smiled softly, her expression full of understanding but also a quiet strength. "It's important to recognize that healing doesn't mean things will go back to the way they were before. In fact, they can't. The two of you will need to build something new—something stronger, with a foundation that's more resilient than before. But that can only happen if both of you are willing to do the work. And Fitz, that work starts with understanding that trust isn't something you can rush or demand. It's earned, piece by piece."
The weight of Dr. Dublin's words hung in the air, and Olivia felt them deeply. She didn't know if she could ever look at Fitz the way she once had, but there was something in his eyes now that told her he was different, at least a little. Maybe he wasn't the same man who had let his fears and insecurities lead him to such a selfish, reckless act. Maybe he could grow, just as she was trying to.
"I don't know where we'll end up," Olivia said softly, turning to Fitz. "But I'm willing to see. I'm willing to give this some time. I just need to know that you're going to be patient with me—because I don't have the answers right now."
Fitz nodded, his eyes filling with fresh tears. "I'll wait. I'll be patient. I'll do whatever you need me to do, Livvie. Just... don't give up on us yet."
Olivia let out a long breath, the tension in her body easing just slightly. "I'm not giving up. But this is going to take time. A lot of time."
Dr. Dublin smiled gently, watching as the first tiny cracks in the wall between them began to mend. "That's all you need to focus on right now—time, honesty, and patience. It's okay to not have all the answers today. What's important is that you're both willing to try."
There was a heavy silence in the room again, but this time, it was different. It wasn't filled with the crushing weight of betrayal and anger. Instead, it was filled with the tentative hope that maybe, just maybe, they could find their way through this.
As they stood to leave, Olivia felt the smallest flicker of something inside her—a fragile, cautious hope that perhaps, after everything, they could find a way to rebuild. It wouldn't be easy. It would hurt. But maybe there was a way forward, one slow step at a time.
And Fitz, for the first time in what felt like forever, felt that same flicker of hope. He knew he had a long way to go, but he was ready. He had to be.
Dr. Dublin watched them both with a thoughtful smile, knowing that the road ahead was long, but not impossible. Healing, she had learned, was always possible—as long as both people were willing to do the work.
As Olivia and Fitz left her office, hand in hand but still cautious, Dr. Dublin closed her notebook and whispered to herself the truth she had seen so many times before.
"Every scar tells a story. But every story can find a new beginning."
Please leave me a review if you want me to write more. Xx