Executive Orders

CH 20 | Lace

The rest of dinner went that way, with loving looks and laughter, with only the littlest bit of dangerous flirting - Fitz and Olivia both doing their best to decompress - to forget who they were and where they were - if only for a little while. Fitz was grateful for what little time they'd managed to snatch for one another. Once again he found himself thankful to have a woman like this in his life.

It's true, watching the sparkle in her eye as she mock berates him about his choices, the way her laughter at his answers fills him with something more - he wants her - badly. She did too; but she was right. They needed to be careful, at least for the next little while.

But he still wanted her. It wasn't just physical - it was never just physical when it came to her. After a full day's serving of heavy political hash, she was dessert, lightness and sweet to both heart and soul.

Just being in her presence re-energizes Fitz, he realized all over again. As iron sharpens iron, so did Olivia do the same for him. No matter how many times he'd heard that phrase, when it came to this amazing woman sitting across from him, she brought a whole new meaning to the words.

She must have read his mind as the conversation turned to the work they'd accomplished today - as well as what still lay ahead before the night was done.

"So..." Fitz said after a little while. "Are we - or are we not going to talk about your visit to the Hill?"

"Edison?" He heard the subtly careful way she said his name.

"Edison."

Her shrug was a delicate thing. "It went a little better than I expected."

Fitz's eyebrows lifted in silent mix of question and answer.

"He actually agreed to see me." Olivia explained. "Anything after that was the 'better than I expected' part."

"And he was eager to discuss political strategy with you?" Fitz's tone was only mildly suspicious and he silently congratulated himself on his self-control. "I wonder why, Liv."

"It wasn't like he was all that enthusiastic about it." Olivia scolded him. "And that was probably only was because I allowed him to spank me."

Fitz's eyebrows crawled upwards again. Considering his show of jealousy, Olivia probably couldn't resist her choice of words.

"Verbally, Fitz." Her eyes told him that he'd probably guessed right. "It's all part of the strategy."

Their eyes met as the innuendo rose up between them, hot and heavy.

"And when he was - satisfied - what else did you two talk about?" Fitz asked. Iron sharpening iron, indeed.

"As a matter of fact, the entire situation turned out to be more informative that I'd counted on." Olivia went on to lay out what else had happened.

Fitz's eyes hardened just a little as she told him about her encounter with Garner. He felt his jealousy return in full force, rising up in him, hot, potent and ferocious. He knew there'd been a reason why he'd had such a reaction to him earlier.

There was more to it, of course. Garner's proximity to both Edison and his vice-president raised all sorts of red flags. Both he and Olivia knew that they had to have at the very least a broad-stroked conversation about what challenges this unexpected turn of events might bring.

"Is Sally still in the White House tonight?" Olivia asked.

His mind still focused on Garner's inappropriateness, Fitz shrugged. He didn't know her personal itinerary for the evening.