I didn't proofread this so here's to hoping for the best.

"How was shopping?" Edison asks as soon as everyone enters the house. We've all congregated at my parents place so that we could have lunch together. Edison immediately moves me away from the commotion and into the small hallway by the kitchen.

"It was fine." I reply with a tight smile. "It was bit chilly outside for California but we had a good time. I ended up riding with the boys on the way back. They're complete characters so that was fun."

He nods and begins to rub my arm soothingly and then leans in to give me a kiss. As soon as our lips meet Jordan interrupts.

"I'm sorry, Edison, I really need to borrow Olivia for a second."

I glare at her from behind him. I was honestly appreciating the small moment alone that I was having with him.

"It's really important…" She trails off, ignoring me with her eyes trained on Edison.

"It's fine." He assures her and starts pushing me in front of him. "You obviously need her."

He walks away quickly, leaving me alone with her.

"Olivia...you really need to think about what you're doing." She cautions.

"Excuse me?"

She grabs my forearm and drags me out of the side door and to her car. Once we're in she doesn't hold back.

"Edison's never hurt you. I find him boring but he's not a bad guy. He doesn't fight you on anything, he puts up with your crap and your attitude-"

"Where are you going with this, Jordan?" I demand, exasperated.

"I know that I've been joking about you and Fitz being together but I never condoned cheating, Liv."

"Cheating?!" I yell shocked. "I love Edison. I am marrying Edison!"

"Do you even want to anymore?"

I ignore her question.

"Is this because I rode home with Fitz…because it wasn't that big of a deal."

"Oh, so you two wrapped around each other and holding hands was a joke too, right?" She asks condescendingly.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I had no idea that anyone had seen us. I realized after we met back up with the group that Fitz and I had been completely reckless with our behavior. We weren't bundled up or unrecognizable. Anyone could have spotted us. Anyone could have taken a picture. It wasn't like we were necessarily far from Toluca Lake, the celebrity community of L.A. I wouldn't have been surprised if a lone paparazzo was waiting for a few shots. Playing dumb seems better than fessing up, though.

"Don't belittle my intelligence, Olivia. Elliott and I saw you guys. Don't you think that's a little weird? You're engaged but you're holding hands with your ex. Elliott would kill me if he thought I was even standing a little bit too close to Jeremy."

"Don't do that. Don't compare my relationship to yours." I hiss and point towards the house. "Edison wants me to be friends with Fitz. That's the whole reason that I'm here, because of Edison."

"Liv, I'm not going to fight with you. You know how I feel about Fitz and you know how I feel about Edison but you also know how I feel about cheating." She sighs and looks towards the house. "When you figure out how you feel, I need you to break things off with Edison or break things off with Fitz because neither of them deserves anything less. I've never liked Edison but he's never treated you wrong and no one deserves to be cheated on."

She sits quietly when she's done, letting her words sink in.

"I'm sorry." I whisper to her.

"I am married to Elliott, I am in love with Elliott but the feeling of another man cheating on me is something that I will never forget. Don't give Edison a reason to feel that way whenever he hears your name."

I nod at her in understanding and then we move from the car and exchange a quick hug before entering the house and going our separate ways. Instead of joining everyone else, I make my way upstairs to my bedroom. At once, I fling myself onto the bed and my mind starts to race.

We're just friends. We're just friends. We're just friends. My brain starts to repeat itself. Almost like a mantra. It worries me. Who am I trying to convince? My family or myself? Friendship was something that we never dabbled in. Our relationship went from zero to sixty. Could Fitz and I have a legitimate friendship? I close my eyes, and immediately a dream of our past life colors the vision behind my closed lids. A series of 'what ifs' begin to takeover. What if I had never overheard his conversation that night? What if I had let him explain? What if I had never left? Would we have had a real life together? Could we have had a real life together? A life where we're married with kids. A scene practically creates itself in my head, one where we're happier than I've ever seen us before.

The sun is still rising over our beautiful house. There's an expansive front lawn but you wouldn't be able to tell how nice our grass is by all of the bikes and yard toys that litter it. There's an empty white eight-seater SUV parked in the driveway and all of the doors are open. Karen is standing near it, her small frame bent over at almost a ninety degree angle in laughter. That's when Fitz appears. He has a small boy dangling from his arms while another runs out ahead of him, his wild hair bouncing in the wind, and he leaps through the open door and into a seat. Gerry comes out next, tickling a little girl whose hair hangs to her butt but looks uncombed and frizzy. I can tell that it wasn't me that got her ready for school. As a pair, they wrangle the children into the car but once everyone is in Fitz doesn't start it. He instead begins making trips back and forth into the house, each time carrying a backpack or a book or a jacket, once even a sock before he finally gets into the car and starts it. Before he can pull off I appear on the porch, very pregnant and holding a small blanket. There's smiling faces pressed against the window as they see me so I make my way to them as Fitz rounds the car to meet me half way. The first thing that he does when he's out of the car is place his hands on my large stomach and kiss me softly.

"You're supposed to be in bed."

"Yeah but I knew that you weren't going to get down the driveway before Harper realized that you left her blanket."

Harper. We agreed on it because not only was it strong but we figured it'd guarantee her intelligence as well. Harper Grant. The name resonates in my mind.

Fitz removes the blanket from my hands and passes it throw the window. I can hear Karen laughing at him from the backseat with the kids.

"And Masie's KeyKey." I say, handing him an embroidered blue and green sock monkey.

He makes a face at me and I know it's because of the nickname. Mason Grant was nothing like his older brothers in character. While Carter and Gerry messed with cars and threw things and got dirty, Mason preferred to stay indoors right next to his mother. He wanted to be sung to while at the same age, Carter proved to be a total riot, wanting to run around and jump off of things and often breaking his toys. I got away with calling him Cari twice before he informed me that one day he was going to be a man that had chest hair like Daddy so I shouldn't call him such a girly name. Mason is different. Masie is a momma's boy.

"You know I hate that." He shakes his head as he passes our son his favorite stuffed animal. "What would I do without you?"

"Make twenty more trips into the house. It's not as entertaining when Liv gets everyone ready but we get there on time." Karen pipes up from the back.

"It's only because Liv has like a supersonic memory or something." Gerry argues with her.

We shake our heads at each other. A big, crazy family was exactly what we wanted and it was exactly what we got. This was our family. Karen, Carter, Mason, Gerry, and Harper. The scene shifts quite suddenly at the thought of our children to my expectant future with Edison.

There's not as much laughter. Not as much chaos and definitely no Fitz. We have one little boy. Nicholas. He's quiet, loves to read, and rarely gives his input on anything. He's sitting at the kitchen table with a book in hand, completely ignoring his dinner. Completely ignoring his parents. Edison and I exchange a few details about our day, trying not to make it too political so that Nick will join in. He doesn't and Edison and I continue the rest of our meal in silence. If we're not talking about Nick or politics the conversation stops. We have nothing left to learn from each other. He's an open book and I'm more closed off than ever. I'm not in love. I'm not happy. Plus, there's no smushy babies for me to cuddle or love on when I'm lonely. I seem to always be that way in this reality. It's disheartening. It's my last thought before the world inside of my head goes black.

I jolt from my unexpected nap to find that only thirty minutes have passed since I ditched the small party downstairs. Smoothing my hand over the bed to find it empty, I jump up and race down the hall to the game room where, sure enough, the culprit is waiting to be found.

"Fitzgerald Grant! Where is it?"

He turns to me in confusion while Riley and Gerry ignore me and continue to play their game.

"Liv, what are you talking about? Where is what?"

His tone is colored with sincerity, his face the picture of befuddlement. For half a second I believe him. For half a second I forget that he's a politician.

"My phone. What did you do with my cell phone?"

"Olivia, why would I take your phone?"

Instead of answering I give him a look and he bows his head and chuckles.

"You do have it!" I shout, going for his pockets.

He slips it out before I have the chance to grab it and holds it over his head.

"Of course I have it. I was just keeping it safe while you were sleeping."

I'm jumping as high as I can in vain. He's way too tall and he knows it.

"Give it back!"

I can see Riley shaking his head at the childishness of the situation but I don't see him trying to help me so I continue to tire myself out trying to reach my phone that towers a good two feet over my head.

"If I gave it back that would ruin all of the great fun that we're having." He taunts with a grin on his face.

"We aren't having fun, you are." I huff at him out of breath.

I finally stop jumping at him to stand still with my arms crossed. I can see him take in my posture which I'm hoping conveys the fact that I'm tired of playing his little game.

"Just because you look all serious doesn't mean I'm going to give it back." He chuckles, bringing the phone down to his level.

"Why not?"

"Because if you want your phone that means that you're going to start working and you've already been antisocial enough today. You should come and hang out with everyone else."

"Maybe I just want to have my phone with me. Did you ever think of that?" I question mockingly.

He just shrugs in response and turns back to the game that the boys are playing. I'm starting to get frustrated. So I use my last resort and beg.

"Fitz, please. I really want phone back." I whine hoping that it will soften him up.

My lip is quivering and my eyes are filling with tears as I look up at him. This is the point where I knew, knew, that Edison would give in, not wanting to see me unhappy. Fitz on the other hand, smiles and brushes his hand along my cheek.

"Too bad." He whispers and walks away.

I groan in defeat and stalk out of the room, slamming my bedroom door like a child once I get there. My back and forth pacing begins as I try my hardest to think of a way to get my phone back from him. I don't have to think long. Fitz opens the door slightly and tosses my phone on the bed barely two minutes later and slips back out of the room without a sound.

"Hey!" I yell, shocked.

He turns around and opens the door all of the way.

"You're just giving it back to me?" I ask in confusion, not even thinking about all of the things that he could have done with my phone unattended.

"Uh…yeah." He says with a nod.

"Thank you?"

He laughs at me and shakes his head.

"Are you going to come talk to everyone or are you going to go back to sulking by yourself?"

"You know, you could have asked me nicely to come hangout. You didn't need to take my phone." I point out, purposely bumping into him as I walk out of the room. "Would that have killed you?"

"See, I could have but then we wouldn't have had so much fun." He grins. "Besides, you were being a hermit and as a good friend it's my job to point out all of your flaws."

"I want you to keep using that technique and then tell me how soon you get a girlfriend."

"Maybe that's why it's been so long since I've had one."

"It only took you, what, four years to figure that out? Look at who's getting smarter." I tease as we take a seat on the couch in the empty sun room.

"Don't you have a boyfriend that you can be mean to instead of me?"

"But Fitz, I thought we were having so much fun? Besides, you were the one that wanted me to come out of my room so here I am. Then again, you were probably lonely without my breathtaking, scintillating personality."

"For a washed up former President's girlfriend you sure do have a lot of confidence. I'm glad that didn't go away after the breakup." He smiles while patting my head.

"Wow, you sure are a keeper." I scoff. "I don't know why I didn't just marry you."

He throws his head back in laughter. Honestly, it feels good to be able to make that joke.

"You really should have. You're never going to get better than me."

"The thing is…I really wanted someone that was smart. After being with you and realizing that you were nothing but hair I had to find someone else. Y'know, someone that could hold an intelligent conversation without his handlers."

"Ouch. You're a keeper, too, you know that. Who wouldn't want someone that is always so complimentary."

"Only for you, Fitz." I joke, lifting my hand to mess with his curls.

"Olivia."

We turn around to find Jordan standing in the doorway.

"Mom wants to talk to you about something." Her voice is completely monotone as she speaks.

I groan knowing exactly what this is about but I remove my hand from Fitz' hair and move towards the door, giving him a small smile as I leave.

I take my time making my way to the family room where I'm sure everyone except my mom is. Jordan and I had made up a code a long time ago so that if we were ever in an uncomfortable situation one of us would say 'Mom wants to talk to you about something.' It was non-descript enough that whatever party we were trying to escape wouldn't ask questions because no one tells you to avoid your parents. My problem is, now she's using it as a way to talk to Fitz and I don't know what about.

The boys have moved downstairs with their game and take up the middle of the floor while Adam plays the devil's advocate from his spot on the couch next to Quinn. Elliott is sitting in the oversized chair shaking his head at them and Edison, of course, is absorbed in his phone. When they see me come in, they all offer a half-hearted 'hello' and Edison scoots over to offer me a spot on the couch.

"There you are. We didn't know where you disappeared to." He wonders aloud.

"In self-proclaimed isolation until Fitz forced me out to spend time with everyone."

He nods and then wraps his arm around my body, pulling me closer as I bring my legs onto the couch and cuddle into him.

"You guys make me want to barf up the lunch that I haven't even had yet." Riley grumbles without removing his eyes from the television screen.

"Yeah, well, that's what people that love each other do."

"Adam and Quinn aren't like that. Never mind. It's probably because they have nothing to prove."

That sets off a fire inside of me and it takes everything that I have not to leap across the room and use the small controller in his hand to beat his head into the ground.

"We don't have to prove anything to you, Riley! Why don't you remember to stay in a child's place." I roar, letting my emotions take over.

"Hey, calm down." Elliott warns, sitting up in his chair with his hands in the surrender position. "Riley's just kidding. There's no need to attack him."

I roll my eyes and bow my head into my hands as Edison rubs my back in circles. I lift my head once I hear footsteps and I catch my sister and Fitz entering the room. She shoots me a look of disappointment before going to sit on Elliott's lap. Fitz moves to sit on the floor in front me and then the room falls silent except for the grunting of the video game characters. I sigh loudly taking in the room.

"I just want it to be Christmas already." I blurt out, attempting to break the silence.

Riley, Jordan and Elliott seem to still be mad at me. Edison nods. Quinn and Adam are in their own little world and Fitz looks like he wants to be anywhere but here. My phone is out in seconds.

What did she say to you?

I know that whatever has him in a foul mood is a direct cause of my sister. He looks down at his phone quickly and then shakes his head without making eye contact. My eyebrows furrow with worry.

Tell me or I'll ask her myself and it won't be as nice as how I'm asking you now.

He shakes his head softly, his face softening as he starts typing.

She just warned me about a few things. It's no big deal, Liv. I can already see your wheels turning. Don't worry so much.

He doesn't look at me but instead pretends to be interested in whatever monotonous conversation that has started up.

You're still not telling me what she said.

He doesn't hesitate this time and replies instantly.

She just wanted to remind me that you're getting married to Edison and that we should maintain some boundaries. She doesn't want us to jump over a line that we can't walk back over.

At that my hand slips from my lap to the hair at the nape of his neck. I run my hand through the long curls, happy that he's let his hair get long enough to semi-shield my inappropriate behavior.

Don't listen to her. She gave me the same speech. I know that I would never cross that line and I know that you would never help me cross it either. She just doesn't trust us together. Especially after seeing us together at the pavilion today.

I hear him sigh heavily as my text comes in but before he can reply we're interrupted.

"Are you guys aware that we are all know that you guys are texting each other, right?" Adam jokes from across the room.

Fitz offers up a half-hearted apology but I'm already on an emotional overload for the day and I shake my head incredulously at him.

"We wouldn't have to text if everyone didn't make it such a big deal every time we even looked at each other. We might even talk to each other out loud if it wasn't so suspicious to other people." I exclaim, looking directly at Jordan.

Fitz turns around to look at me for the first time since he's entered the room. He gently places his hand on my knee, breaking the staring contest that was forming. I hesitantly look him in the eyes.

"Livi, it's okay."

I nod at him with tears in my eyes but I drop my head to my hands once more and try to take deep breaths because it wasn't okay. Nothing about this is okay. Edison begins to rub my back again to comfort me but it does nothing but make me more anxious. It truthfully doesn't matter how many circles he rubs, it will never make sense to me why he's put the two of us in this situation. I will never understand why he would want to come here and watch me be questioned by my friends and family about marrying him. Why he would want to come here and be humiliated by hearing everyone talk about how great my relationship with Fitz was. It's done nothing but make him angry. Nothing but give me anxiety and sleepless nights.

Fitz and I can be friends. I just have to convince me and then I can convince them.

I do realize that I am a terrible updater. I apologize profusely. I had a weird type of writers block where every time I sat down to write I just couldn't get the story to come to me. I had to actually think about what I wanted instead of just letting my fingers do the work so I just didn't write anything. Sorry about that.

So, I'm going to do the same thing that I did with this chapter and send previews for anyone that wants them. Just include the word 'preview' in your review and it'll be sent as soon as I have something.

Be awesome and tell me what you think.