Hi.

New Story gathered the inspiration from a song by Kate Nash called 'Nicest Thing'. Not sure where this one is going but we'll find our way, somehow. Enjoy.

X

"Hi"

It's a whisper, really, that voice that comes from behind her. She freezes a little, and her heart beats so quickly she can barely breathe.

Olivia opens her eyes but shuts them quickly, momentarily blinded by the bright light. Her hand rubs her eyes slowly removing the sleep from her eyes until finally her eyes adjust to the lightness of the room. She takes note of the wood ceilings, the classic décor , the sweet smell of fruit infiltrating the room. This isn't her apartment.

The bed moves, becomes heavier. Olivia manages to turn around, and when she does, she looks right into the pale blue eyes that are staring at her in adoration while she stares at him with confusion and uncertainty that he is really here.

She grabs the cover to hide herself from him, alarmed at his presences.

"What are you doing here?" Olivia asked Fitz as she takes note of his chiseled abs, and his freshly washed hair wearing nothing but pajama pants.

"I'm here because you want me here." Fitz says softly

Her grip on the covers begins to loosen as she stares at him curiously.

"Where are we?"

"We're home." He smiles softly as he pushes a stray hair behind her ear.

"Vermont?" she whispers shockingly

"Yeah."

"We're not supposed to be here." Olivia says sitting up in bed, knowing this wasn't her reality- that she couldn't possibly be here with Fitz in reality.

In their present life they are irretrievably ruined, she ran away and he stopped chasing her, instead of being a team with him on his last year as president she is helping his ex-wife run for the same office she ran from.

"But we are." Fitz says lying down in bed as he pats for Olivia to lie next to him.

She smiles at him as she places her head on his chest. She sniffles softly at the sound of his heart beating in rhythm in her ear. He holds her tight in his arms. The physical contact draws an unexpected emotion to unravel from inside.

"I missed you." She whispers in the crevices of his chest as she allows herself this moment of truth and acknowledgment.

"I'm here now." He kisses her brow and begins to soothingly rub her back as she drifts off to sleep.

She gasps loudly as air enters her lungs once again. Her heartbeats loudly in the darkened room as she wakes up from her dream.

/

She plays idly with her fingers, ignoring the quizzical stare from the man sitting across from her with his thick rimmed glasses.

"Why do you seem disappointed, Olivia?"

She sighs heavily before answering the question "why would I want to think about him." Olivia says as though the answer was simple enough. They broke up well over a year ago and still she is forever intertwined with him, any move he makes she is still there tentatively listening amongst the chaos surrounding her.

"You've dreamt about him for over a week, why do you think the dreams are occurring?"

"I don't know." She pauses for a moment "He's been campaigning for Mellie a lot so I assume that's why."

He nods in understanding "have you enjoyed his company?"

Olivia shrugs indifferently "its fine."

"Just fine" he clarifies

"It's nice…he's nice." Olivia whispers softly as she begins to rub her finger expecting to feel the ring he gave her eight years ago only to remember she had thrown away.

/

The plush leather recliners remind her of where she is at. She stares momentarily out the window as she watches the houses; buildings and trees get smaller in size the higher Air Force one goes.

"We're pretty small in the grand scheme of things."

She turns her head from the window and smiles tentatively at Fitz as she discreetly looks him up and down, and nods approvingly in her subconscious at his attire. The blue pinstripe suit with a navy tie highlights the deep abyss hidden in his eyes.

"Are you excited to be campaigning for Mellie?"

"I'm more excited to be out of the White House so I'll campaign for Mellie all day if she wants."

Olivia places her paper down as she looks to give Fitz her undivided attention. "I didn't know you were ready to leave."

He shrugs "somedays I am and somedays I wonder who will I be if I am not the President. It's all I know now."

"I get that too." Olivia says faintly understanding where Fitz is coming from more than she is willing to admit. Walking out of the White House and away from Fitz was truly the first time in her life that she ever felt completely and utterly alone; without the White House as her security blanket, Olivia had to redefine herself.

It took Olivia years to have what she wanted and it took her less than an hour to destroy it.

"You have it all together; Olivia."

Olivia shakes her head before laughing at Fitz's statement; if only he knew.

"No, I don't."

"Sure you do. You created one President and now you are working on another. I'm a little jealous." Fitz responds lighting up the conversation.

"It's hard to create a President considering you were born to be one."

He places his hands in his pockets as he sways a little from side to side. "You know, I wish I had the power at the time to create my own destiny and not listen to him."

Olivia stares curiously at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Would you have done it differently?" somehow she's nervous about what his answer will be.

"I don't know." Fitz says honestly "I just would have liked to be in control of my own life and not be defined by my father."

Olivia smiles gently, more than pleased with his answer but also amazed at how much she and Fitz's lives parallel to one another. They both came from broken homes, their mother's died and they were raised by their father to fulfill their dreams and wishes.

"Did I offend you?" Fitz asked noticing the look on Olivia's face.

She shakes her head vigorously

"No" she pauses for a moment "I loved what you said."

Fitz smiles gently at Olivia, pleased with her statement.

"Mr. President."

An aide appears and quickly rushes Fitz back to his office, but before he walks out, he turns to Olivia.

"It was nice talking to you, Miss Pope."

"You too, Mr. President."

/

"What do you think it means?" Olivia asked staring inquisitively at her therapist.

"What do you think it means?" He counters.

"I'm around him again and it's familiar to how we first fell in love but only this time we already have history between us and – it's just different this time."

"Different how?"

She brushes her hair back with her fingers as she tries to find the right words to convey how she's feeling. "He doesn't look at me the way he used too." Her voice drops softly, if ever she needed reassurance in her relationship with Fitz she knew she could always count on him staring at her in a way that made her feel completely exposed yet liberated at the same time.

"Is that a bad thing?"

Her head lifts up; her eyes begin to get heavy with unshed tears "No. It just means he doesn't love me anymore."

"Do you love him?"

"I can't go back to him even if I wanted to, I made sure of it."

"Nothing is irreversibly broken, Olivia."

"We are…if he knew what I did, who I've become…" she wipes the tears away quickly with her hand as she stares out at the window.

"I destroyed us and this time I made sure I set every drop of hope left to burn when I walked out of the White House."

"Olivia, you have grown a great deal since our first cession. Isn't it time that you stopped punishing yourself and found happiness"

"I don't think it's possible for someone like me."

/

The night was still young, glimmering stars against the darkened skies and gentle breezes outside, while inside, in a spacious ballroom, candle and chandelier lights made visible the marble floor, pillars, light blue walls, sinuous statues, silk curtains, adorned and antique furniture sitting on the edges of the large chamber. It is clearly a gallant dwelling, and as to be expected it is filled, flourishing in a celebration night, with an orchestra, dancing pairs in the center, conversing people, a table strewn with the most variable foods and drinks.

She watches Mellie work the crowd, speaking fondly and kindly to all the donors in attendance. Her eyes find Marcus smiling proudly at Mellie and for a moment she freezes at the sudden Déjà vu. Is it possible that her eyes are deceiving her, before she could make a conclusion, she is interrupted.

"Are you ready?"

She turns her head to acknowledge and tips her glass of wine.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

The crowd roars as President Grant walks to the front standing beside his now ex-wife.

Olivia supposes she should be shocked by the warm applause for the President but she's not. Without her standing in the way, Fitz has grown into a President that he was always destined to be- great. The stories that will be told about his fall and rise as President. She was his down fall and now he will be remembered and cherished for the years to come.

"It's amazing to see how much they respect him." Abby says to Olivia from the back of the room.

Olivia shakes her head. "It's not- everyone loves him." Olivia responds simply with no animosity but only stating the truth.

"In three month, we will have our next President." Abby pauses for a moment as she too takes in the crowd "it doesn't seem fair- we were just getting started… Olivia if you could see him now; he's changed so much in such short period of-"

"He was born for this Abby. His father trained him to be the President."

Abby nods in agreement having heard the stories about Big Jerry.

"But still, he deserves this. He deserves to feel accomplished and happy."

"He does." Her voice whispers out softly before walking into the crowd.

Loud noises. Bright lights. They were all standing in the same large room. They babbled, chatted, gossiped, admired, chuckled, and envied. Most of their hearts were corrupted, overflowing with deceit and detestation, but in the crowd was the innocent but even they too will join the temptation that is D.C.

Her eyes are discreetly on his, following his every move and where about; watching the fake smiles, and empty words as men and women flock around him, hoping and believing that if near him long enough they too will become powerful and the ruler of the free world. But little do they know that his power springs internally from his benevolent heart.

Fitz smiles graciously at the people, greeting everyone by their name and sparking some form of bond with them, there are times where his job was tedious at moments but there was moments were he could see his impact in these people lives; his words, his presence could change the nonbelievers into believers.

He always underestimated his power over people, that with a handshake and soft smile he could inspire his people to definitively be better.

He walks into the garden discreetly, needing a moment to take this all in.

His eyes squint as he sees a beautiful silhouette sitting on a bench in the garden. He smelled her before he saw her but still even in the darkness of the night her beauty and grace shines brighter than any star he has ever seen. The crème strapless dress with encrusted diamonds creates this luminous effect on her skin as though the stars have fallen from the sky and landed gently on her skin.

Fitz knows he should make his presence clear but he needs this unobstructed moment to marvel at her. To this day she still has no idea about how her existence has vastly changed his philosophy on life and love.

The voices of the crowd stopped bothering her once she stepped on the banquet hall's terrace, and made her way down to the garden far from the ball, far from everyone else. She inhales and exhales the cool crisp air penetrating her lungs. She likes it out here.

"Are you cold?"

She jumps at the voice.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to frighten you." Fitz apologizes

"What are you doing here?" Olivia asked as she looked around for agents or aides following after him.

"I just wanted some fresh air." Fitz says simply "But I was intruding so I'll just head back in."

"No." Olivia rushes out quicker than what she was planning to. "Please stay."

He slides off his jacket and places it gently around her shoulders as he moves to sit next to her on the bench. He didn't think anything of the moment, whenever they would go to a function; Olivia would protest at wearing a shawl or jacket of some sort but always would shiver cooled leaving Fitz to automatically take his jacket off to keep her warm.

"You still don't like wearing jackets."

"It takes away from my dress." Olivia retorts jokingly causing Fitz to chuckle softly.

"Well that it does. You look beautiful by the way."

"Thank you." She blushes at the sweet sentiment.

She tightens the jacket and subconsciously she inhales his scent and for a minute everything that happened to them was untrue.

With his eyes set in front as he watches the fireworks, breathlessly Olivia gazes at him with warmth and kindness.

She was falling, slipping desperately at his close proximity. Forming attachments of any sort causes a sense of imbalance in life. But it was already too late to stop the bubbling in her stomach at his smile or the aching loss at watching him walk away.

Fireworks begin to light the sky.

"Fitz"

"Yeah, Liv?"

Her eyes catch his grey eyes piercing into her soul and she is momentarily stunned by the interminable feeling resonating with her at his tender stare.

She places a hand on her stomach as butterflies fill her stomach in fear and excitement.

"I was wondering-"

"There you are." A soft voice says from behind them.

Fitz turns and smiles happily at the familiar face making its way towards them. Olivia watches the interaction keenly, as tries silently to fill in the missing pieces.

"Hi, Olivia. It's great to finally meet you; Fitz has spoken so highly of you."

Olivia shakes the hand kindly.

"It's nice to me you too."

"I'm sorry for my lack of manners. Olivia, this is Emily-my girlfriend." He says softly.