So so so SORRY for being gone for so long! I'm going to try and make sure I don't do it again, but now I'm back with a good sized chapter. Someone brought up the issue of Liv going through her menstrual cycle and that will come up in a later chapter ; ). So…enjoy!

Chapter 5: Secrets and Lies

Olivia had woken up early to shower, as she liked to call it, in the lake she and Fitz had discovered. She was going to ask him to join her, but she didn't want to disturb the serene look on his face as he dreamed. As she bathes, she wonders about how he looks naked. She imagines the body of a Greek god like those statues in museums of Apollo or Zeus. They had been taking their relationship, if you could call it that, slow, which meant there had been no sex…but she often thought about it. About how it would feel for him to take her against a tree or on the beach or yet, in the water, and make her moan and scream out his name for all to hear. She was feeling hot just thinking about it—until she feels her big toe hit something hard and smooth under the water. She kicks out, thinking it was some strange organism but as the item tumbles down to the deeper parts of the lake, she realizes that it was a briefcase.

This piques her interest, making her wonder how it could've gotten there and more importantly, if she could get into it, if the contents could give her any clues as to how she and Fitz got onto the island. She peers under the water to see where the briefcase landed and after contemplating whether or not it was too deep, she decides to go for it, taking a huge breath and then delving under. She kicks her legs furiously to and fro as she pushes the water behind her with her hands, propelling herself downward. She finds it harder and harder to breath and push herself forward the further she goes, but she keeps her eyes set on the briefcase. Once she's just a foot away, she grabs for it but misses it by just an inch, throwing her form off and making her float back up a few feet. She panics a bit at this, causing her to let out a few bubbles of air, but she quickly gains her composure, trying the same swimming technique once more, pushing herself downward again and this time when she reaches for the briefcase, she gets a firm grip on the handle.

She smiles victoriously and lets herself float back up, using her free arm to hurry the process. Once she gets to the surface, it takes her full minute to catch her breath again and once she does, she climbs out of the water and deposits the medium-sized, brown, leather briefcase on the ground, wondering if she'd be able to break it open, when she hears a rustling from the trees above her. She looks up, scanning the trees and her eyes finally settle on a brown and black spider monkey, perched onto of a branch staring down at her.

She's a bit startled at first but it watches her only for a few more seconds before its attention is diverted by a bird flying nearby and it takes off, jumping away from her. She shrugs it off, just glad it wasn't another jaguar. She puts her shirt and underwear on and then brings her attention back to the briefcase.

She can't help but think it looks familiar, though, she can't remember where she's seen this particular briefcase. The lock didn't look to difficult and with one of the bobby pins in the pocket of her jeans, she could probably bust it open, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind telling her to just leave it alone. But the thought of just letting it slip back down to the bottom of the lake would be even more torturous, so she decides to get cracking.

She walks over to where she left her jeans to get the bobby pin when she hears the sound of Fitz's voice calling her name. She's suddenly filled with panic and quickly scurries back to the briefcase, looking for a place to hide it. She wasn't totally sure why she was keeping it secret from him except for the bad feeling it was giving her.

She decides to stash it behind a nearby tree right as Fitz comes into view. As soon as he sees her, she can visibly see his body relax, but he looks upset as he says, "You scared me when I couldn't find you earlier this morning. Why didn't you tell me that you were coming here?"

"I didn't want to wake you because you were fast asleep. And I was just taking a bath like I normally do when I come out here in the morning," she explains but walks over to him to physically comfort him. She takes his hands in hers and looks up at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you. Are you still upset?"

"I just don't want anything to happen to you. I know we haven't had any serious threats since the jaguar incident but…I need you, Livvie. You're all I have," he tells her, kissing her forehead.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I'll let you know where and when I'm going from now on," she says, pecking his hand.

He smiles at her. "Thank you."

They spend the rest of the day just lounging on the beach and entertaining each other, but Olivia keeps feeling drops of water landing on her occasionally. She looks up at the sky and sees grayish clouds starting to gather. "I think it's going to rain," she tells Fitz.

"Me, too. I've been feeling drops all day," he agrees.

"Do you think we should start putting our food inside?"

"That might be a good idea. Just in case."

So they start to gather the fruit and within an hour it's raining cats and dogs, but they're safe inside their cave with all their possessions, cuddled up together. Though, Olivia can't help but worry about the briefcase, hoping that the downpour wouldn't wash it back into the lake.

They lay silently for a while, with Fitz sitting up against the cave wall and Olivia lying against his chest. She smiles as he plays with her tight curls, the both of them enjoying the sound of the rain and just the feeling of being in each other's company before Olivia curiously says, "So, I know you're a doctor and all but what's your last name? What would I call you? I never asked"

"Dr. Grant."

"Hmm…Dr. Fitzgerald Grant. Now that's a sexy name."

He laughs. "And how about you? What's your full name?"

"Olivia Carolyn Pope," she says without hesitation.

"Hmm, Pope…" he says dreamily.

"Yeah, what about it?" She asks warily.

"I don't know, it just sounds familiar, but maybe I'm just getting it mixed up with something else," he says with a shrug.

"Oh…probably," she assures him as she mentally chastises herself for being so stupid and incautious and letting him know her full name. She was surprised with all the time they had spent together that he seemingly hadn't recognized her at all as one of the United States' most wanted.

"Wait, what did you say your father did again?"

"Why do you want to know?" She questions defensively, starting to feel anxious.

"I was just wondering."

"Uh…he owns his own psych practice," she responds quickly, but not feeling so confident about this being the excuse she had given him a couple of weeks ago. She knows she had said that her father owned something but she couldn't exactly remember what.

He nods, allowing her to calm down a bit. "Oh…" Then pauses, causing her to hold her breath again. "But wait, didn't you say he owned a bank when we were swimming at the lake for the first time?"

"Did I?"

"Yeah, you said you worked with him."

"Hmm…you must've misheard me."

"Actually, I'm honestly a hundred percent sure you said he owned a bank."

"So, what are you calling me a liar?" She questions.

"No, not exactly, I'm just wondering why you said bank a couple weeks ago and now you're saying psych practice," he tells her. "There's no need to get defensive."

"I'm not getting defensive! I'm just telling you that you're wrong in what you heard," she says, sitting up and scooting away from him.

He just stares at her for a few seconds before asking, "Is there something wrong that you need to tell me about?"

"No, there's nothing wrong…"

"Then why are you lying to me?" He asks simply.

She turns to face hi, giving him a long, hard stare. She's about to object to his accusations again before she sighs and says, "I don't want to talk about it."

He furrows his eyebrows at this but ultimately nods and attempts to smile. "Okay." He opens his arms back up for her but she waves him away and says, "I think I'm going to take a nap. I'm really tired, actually."

Without waiting for him to reply, she lays down on their large, soft leaf bed and lies on her side, facing away from him. Her body stays tense as she feels his eyes trained on her, but she soon finds that she actually is pretty tired and she eventually falls asleep, her mind drifting off into a dark memory.

A year ago—New York

Olivia was on cloud 9 with the news she had just received. She would be interning as software engineer at one of best technological companies in the world which had always been her dream, but what excited her the most is the fact that she would now be making enough money to take care of both herself and her mom. She just had to convince her mom to finally gain some sense and leave her deadbeat husband who also happened to be Olivia's father, and then they'd be on their way to living the life they'd always wanted.

As she took a taxi to her parents' house, she kept trying to call her mom to tell her the great news but for some strange reason she wasn't answering, even though it was only the afternoon and her mom was usually at home by now.

She shrugs it off and decides to stop calling her, seeing as she's almost home. Once she arrives at their apartment, she runs for the door, giddy with excitement—that is until she hears the booming sound of her father's voice and the sound of glass breaking.

She jams her key into the door lock and rushes into the house. She doesn't find anyone once she enters the house but soon hears her parents' voices echoing from the kitchen. She walks into the doorway of the room as her father angrily slams another stack of plates down to the ground, making both she and her mother flinch at the breaking of the china.

"You just think everything is a sick joke, don't you?" Her father says menacingly to her mother.

"No, Frank! I'm sorry!" Her mother replies, her entire body and voice shaking with fear.

"What the hell is going on?" Olivia asks her father, stepping closer into the kitchen.

"Why don't you ask this bitch?" Frank spits out, his words slurring from the alcohol in his system. "I mean I come home after being laid off and she doesn't even have the decency to make sure the house is clean and cook me a nice, warm meal."

"I told you, Frank, I had to go to a doctor's appointment and it went longer than I thought it would—"

"Shut the hell up! You're full of shit! And you," he snarls, turning to Olivia. "Where the hell have you been? You've always been a useless piece of shit! We're getting kicked out of this place and you can't even get a decent job to take care of your parents, you ungrateful little bitch."

His words hardly faze Olivia, as she's heard them many times before and worse. She ignores him and instead turns to her mother, "Mom let's go, now!"

"Unh unh, you aren't going anywhere, not until you learn your lesson," Frank says advancing towards her mother.

"Frank, leave her alone. I will call the cops on your ass!" Olivia warns.

"Yeah, like that's going to work. They never believe little bitches like you." He grabs her mom roughly by the arm and pushes her towards the stove. "Make me some food."

Her mother nods anxiously and turns on the stove, her hands shaking mercilessly as she grabs a pan and wooden spoon. But as she sets the pan down on the stove, she pauses and looks to Frank timidly and stutters as she says, "Uh-um, I, I meant to get some groceries some time today because we don't have any food here."

"We can go get some groceries right now, Mom, let's go," Olivia urges, coming closer to her mother but she's too late to stop what happens next as Frank raises his hand and the next second Olivia's mother is screaming in agony over the stove, her bare flesh burning.

Olivia is suddenly awoken from the dream as her mother's screams translate to the sound of what sounded like a monkey or really loud bird. She sits up, her face and neck drenched with sweat. She slowly gets up and makes her way over to the cave entrance and gazes out, noticing that it's no longer raining and the sun is no longer hidden. She wonders how long she's been out.

She hears the strange sounds again that had awoken her from her dream, coming from the beach so she starts her descent from the cave to the sand.

She doesn't walk far before she sees Fitz and the same spider monkey she had encountered earlier, staring back at each other as Fitz attempts to make monkey noises and flails his arms around while hopping around. "Oo oo ah ah! Oo oo ah ah!"

She can't help but laugh at the scene before her, causing Fitz to turn around and face her. He smiles and explains, "I was just trying to find a way to communicate with it, but I can see how that would look a little silly."

"Just a little," she agrees sarcastically as he walks over to her and kisses her softly. "Good morning."

"Good morning," she replies then asks, "How long have I been out?"

"About ten hours. You must've been pretty tired."

"I guess…" she says.

"Come on, I have breakfast ready for us," he tells her, taking her hand in his and starting to guide her towards their stash but not before turning back and saying to the monkey, "Bye, Chester!"

"Chester?" Olivia questions with a smile.

"Yeah. I've always wanted a pet named Chester," he says, making her laugh, which was something she needed after her awful dream.

They enjoy a nice breakfast of mangos and bananas together by the shore—or at least it started out nice.

"So, do you want to talk now?" Fitz asks.

"About what?" She says knowingly.

"About yesterday," he replies. "Why did you get so bent out of shape when all I did is tell you what you told me a couple of weeks ago?"

"Look, Fitz, this is just something I rather not talk about. It's not a big deal."

"If it's not a big deal then why can't you just tell me? I'm not going to treat you any differently once I find out."

"Or so you say. People always promise that everything will stay the same when they want to know something but that's not always the case, especially in this situation. I'm not talking about this, Fitz, so please just let it go!"

He looks away from her in silence and for a moment she believes that he's actually going to listen to her—until he looks at her firmly and tells her, "That's not fair. Over the time I've gotten to know you, I've told you every damn thing about me. My job, my family, my friends, all the important things, but it's as if I don't know a single thing about you besides your name and a few other minor things. Now all I'm asking is to know about what your father does just out of curiosity since I've told you about my parents, but when I ask there's this big whole elusion. Is he in the mob or something?"

"No!"

"Then why can't you tell me?!"

"Because…because I lied, okay?" She finally confesses. "My father doesn't own a bank or psych practice. He's worked in a factory his whole life—or at least he did until…"

"Until what?"

She shakes her head miserably. "I can't tell you. I'm sorry, I just can't," she gets up, wiping a tear from her cheek and starts to walk away from him.

"Liv, where are you going?" He asks, also getting up.

"I just need some time to myself, Fitz. Just…leave me alone. I need to think. Don't follow me," she warns him softly but sternly, then continues into the forest, leaving him as confused as ever.