Damaged

A Face to Call Home

"Fitz! How is my baby boy?"

Olivia tried to hide her smirk at the high-pitched, near cooing sound the tall, silver-haired woman made when she threw her arms around Fitz. He patted her back, giving Olivia an amused smile as the woman held on longer than necessary. His mother always was a hugger. Releasing the older woman, Fitz took a step back and raised an arm in Olivia's direction.

"Olivia, darling!" Helen had her arms wound tightly around Olivia before Fitz had a chance to utter a single word. Inhaling the heady scent of the Chanel no. 5, Olivia never could understand why that was such a popular scent, she returned the woman's embrace.

"It's been too long!" Kissing Olivia's cheek, Helen pulled away from the younger woman and intertwined her arms with both Olivia's and Fitz's. The two allowed the older woman to lead them to a small, round table with a brilliant white, lacy tablecloth. Disentangling his arm from his mother's, Fitz was quick to pull a chair out for her before doing the same for Olivia. Smoothing her black skirt under her legs, Olivia settled into the high-backed chair as Fitz settled into his.

"I was so thrilled when Fitz called to tell me that the two of you were seeing each other once more," Helen gushed, patting Olivia's hand on the table before opening the menu in front of her.

"I'm lucky he never gave up," Olivia shared a smile with Fitz as she fumbled with opening her own menu - the laminated sheets sticking together. Laying the menu flat on the table before her, the words swam on the page. She had grown up in a small town and as cultured as she had tried to make herself, she wasn't prepared for this. The entire menu was in Italian and the prices...suddenly she was glad that Fitz's mom was paying. She stared at the menu, her brow furrowed. Fitz was too engrossed in reading it himself to be of any help.

"It's mainly pasta," Helen leaned over to whisper, winking as she pointed to an item, "I do recommend the shrimp Alfredo. We can share a bottle of Orveito."

"I'll let you order since you clearly know what you're doing," Olivia chuckled.

"Easy on the wine, though, mom." Fitz glanced at his mother over the top of his menu, a quizzical look crossing his face when Olivia suddenly became extremely interested in her menu, refusing to face him, and Helen frowned.

"Fitz..."

"It's okay, Helen. He worries," Olivia smiled, slightly, "I'm not supposed to drink alcohol with my sleep medication, but I haven't been taking it."

"You haven't been taking it?" Fitz laid his menu on the table, his full attention focused on the woman across the table from him.

"I don't need to. I haven't had nightmares since we've been..." Her voice faded as she let her sentence fizzle out. Fitz reached across the table, gripping her fingers in his hand and rubbing his thumb across her knuckles.

"Well now I feel like a third wheel," Helen cleared her throat, resting her chin in her hand as she watched the young couple with a bemused grin. Fitz patted Olivia's hand, moving his back to his side of the table.

////

"It's going to be okay, Eric," Olivia stated, wrapping her arms around the man standing before her, wrinkling the blue material of his suit jacket.

"Thanks, Liv." He wrapped his arms around her for a moment, patting her back and letting her go. She moved her hands to his jacket, smoothing the wrinkles she had made.

"Not a lot will happen today, Eric," Fitz stated, entering the room, "The opening statements will take most of the time."

Eric nodded, moving his hands to tighten his tie when Olivia dropped her own, satisfied with the way his jacket looked. His shoulders moved as he exhaled slowly, lowering his gaze to the floor.