Barriers Between Love

Chapter 16: Good Morning

Liv stared at the ceiling of her apartment building and replayed her conversation with Fitz in her mind. She rolled over and stared at her clock. It read 11:30. She turned to the other side of her bed and stared at the wall. She finally closed her eyes and began to drift off to sleep. Then out of no where, her phone began to ring.
"This is Olivia Pope." She said as she hit the answer button and held it up to her ear.
"Hey, this is Matt from Big B. So I was wondering tomorrow at 6:00 may be a good time. What do you think?" He asked obviously nervous.
"Sure, are you picking me up?" She asked sitting up.
"Of course, and dress nice. You're gonna love where we go." He said.
"I'm intrigued." Liv said blushing.
"See you then Olivia Pope." He said and hung up.
Liv set her phone down shaking her head and smiling to herself. She rolled over and finally went to sleep. Beep, beep, beep. Liv's alarm went off and she rolled over to shut it off. Once she hit snooze, she stood up and got her robe on. She went to her closet and picked out a white pant suit with a grey shirt underneath. She got dressed and went to her bathroom. She brushed her teeth, curled her hair, and went into the living room to slip on her high heels. She grabbed her purse and keys and walked out of the door, onto the elevator, and out to her car. She put the keys into the ignition and hit the gas. Once she was at the office, her walk turned into a sprint when she saw a young woman fighting with Abby.
"Ma'am I need you to stay back!" Abby yelled.
The woman didn't seem to car and pushed her out of the way and she fell over the desk. Liv ran over and slammed her against the wall.
"Who the hell are you and why are you harassing my workers?" Liv asked.
"Because he knows who killed my fiancé and won't tell me!" She yelled getting her strength back and pushing Liv against the shelf.
Huck sulked in his chair obviously hiding something. Just as Liv hit the shelf, a miniature glass sculpture fell and shattered on the ground. Books began to fall when Liv moved away from the shelf and the shelf itself began to fall soon after. Steven came in and tackled her to the ground.
"Get off of me!" She yelled.
"Not until you calm down and stop attacking my boss and co-workers." Steven said.
"Fine!" She said and stopped fighting.
Steven slowly stood up and helped Abby who seemed pretty shaken up considering her past husband.
"You okay?" Steven asked holding her hand.
"Uh hu, I'm fine...." She lied.
"C'mere." Steven lead Abby out of the room.
Now it was just Liv and the woman.
"So what's going on?" Liv asked.
"I'm Haley Jenkins and my fiancé was Dennis Banks. He was stabbed multiple times in his sleep and bleed out in my bed while I was working the late shift at the truck stop diner. I came home to find his dead body. I saw a man loading a body back in his trunk and when he took off his hood, I instantly recognized him. Huck, I saw him in magazines and stuff since he's been helping with the campaign. I came here and that woman kept saying wait here and let me call my boss so I freaked out in her. Then you came in." She said sitting down.
"And you think Huck knows who killed your husband?" Liv asked.
"He definitely does, ask him." She said. Liv went over to where Hick was and he stood up.
"I'll make some coffee." He said nervously.
"No, you're gonna make a decision. Either tell her why you killed her husband's killer or tell me." Liv said crossing her arms.
"Fine I'll tell her...." He said slowly walking towards Haley.
Liv sat down and felt a sharp pain in her leg. She discovered a small shard of glass stuck in her leg.
"Dammit." She said.
She yanked it out and threw it across the room. Her phone rung and she picked it up.
"What now?" She asked angrily.
"Geez, is it something I said?" Fitz's voice rang into the phone and into her ear.
"What do you want?" She asked rolling her eyes.
"I need to see you in person, tonight." He said.
"I have plans sorry." She said.
"I don't think you understand, you can't blow the president off." He said getting irritated.
"I can do whatever the hell I want. I don't work for you, you work for the American people. Plus, a real president wouldn't force people to come service him." She said.
"You're making me sound like a disgusting slut." He said.
"Because you are." She said.
"And what does that make you?" He asked.
"You keep taking advantage of me and I'm over it. I'm done with this, whatever it is and I don't want to speak to you again. From now on I work for myself and next time you want some attention, ask your wife not me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a job to do that doesn't concern you." She said.
"Fine, but you don't have to lie to me and say you have plans." He said.
"I'm not lying, I'm going on a date with Matt." She said.
"Oh, well-" "just don't talk to me and talk me out of this. Just let me be happy, I deserve at least that." And with that, Liv hung up and slammed the phone down.
"Olivia! Haley's seizing!" Abby shouted.
Liv bolted into the room and found Haley slumped over with foam coming out of her mouth and her body moving like a fish out of water.
"How the hell did this happen?" Liv asked.
"The killer was skilled. He wanted her to find the body and make contact with her. He poisoned the body, I knew I should've dealt with that too." Huck said angry at himself.
"How do we fix it, is there a cure?" Steven asked.
"No." Harrison said.
"How do you know?" Abby asked.
Harrison nodded toward her and she stopped moving. Liv slowly reached her finger toward her neck to check for a pulse but Huck stopped her and shook his head.
"Dead, Huck?" Liv asked as everyone turned to him.
"I need three garbage bags, a box of gloves, two bottles of hand sanitizer, six towels, five shovels, and a car with a big trunk. Let's get to work, no one make skin contact." He said and put some gloves on, as did everyone else.