GL - A FEW DAYS AWAY - Chapter 11
TITLE: A Few Days Away
FANDOM: Guiding Light
PAIRING: Otalia
SUMMARY: Set mid-friendship, this is a hurt/comfort piece as I'm a hurt/comfort junkie. Olivia, Natalia and Emma decide to have a few days away...hopefully more interesting than the summary suggests. Please request before archiving.
RATING: PG for mild violence
Author's note: This is my first ever attempt at fanfic so I'm having to gather a lot of nerve to post it. With very deep thanks to my Canadian Buddy, Critic2000, who beta'd and prodded for this story to see a conclusion and provided insightful and useful comments throughout. I know most of Europe loves her for providing us with Otalia clips as soon as possible but to me, she's my very dear friend. (Course, the clips help ;o))
ADDITIONAL NOTE: Apologies if this isn't everyone's cup of tea but huge thanks again for those that are sticking with it, even if it's not going in the direction most probably hope or want it to go... but I have stated it's a hurt/comfort piece and it will remain in that vein throughout - you have been warned ;o)
DISCLAIMERS: I do not own Guiding Light or any of the characters. However some of Olivia's dialogue in this section is taken from a 2005 storyline and can be found on YouTube with the descriptive title 'Desperate Measures', Part 1 can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6jpHEVNtQg...=PL&index=9
Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Olivia really hadn’t known what to think when Natalia went all bossy on her and practically commanded her to... no, that wasn’t fair. She hadn’t commanded her but there was still a sense of desperation that her will be obeyed and Olivia was incapable of ignoring that. She didn’t know why, she just was. It had always been that way, right from the beginning when God had played his cruel joke and seemingly forced them to spend more time together.
It had kept her alive.
Maybe listening to Natalia now would keep her sane.
She didn’t understand why but she was feeling aches where she was sure she hadn’t bruised anything and for some reason, she could not get warm.
Reaching the bed, she crawled in fully clothed and with the blanket still wrapped around her.
She was still cold.
She was burrowing in as far as she could when Natalia finally walked in the room carrying a tray holding a couple of lightly buttered slices of toast. It smelled fantastic and her stomach grumbled in agreement. Sitting up again and pulling the ever present blanket tighter she took the tray that was lowered to her lap.
“Thanks,” she said as she took a bite of the toast, chewed and swallowed carefully; almost convinced her body would instantly rebel and throw the toast back out again. It didn’t so she took another bite and slowly worked her way through a slice.
The thought of eating another was too much however and she pushed the tray away.
“All done?”
“I’m sorry, I really don’t think I can...”
“Hey, it’s alright. You managed something so it’s a start right?”
She nodded and badly wanted to burrow in again. Wasn’t I here only hours before? In this almost exact same predicament? Argh! So much for a few days away.
She could feel her frustration kicking in again but counteracting that was the heaviness in her limbs. Her stomach had something to digest on again and worse, she was cold. She looked at Natalia, hovering expectantly, clearly wondering the same as her as to whether she was going to have a repeat performance of this afternoon.
Has she eaten yet?
“Have you eaten yet?”
Natalia smiled, “I thought I’d check you were okay first, guess really I should’ve had mine first though in case you put me off my appetite again, you know like when you fly and they tell you to sort your own oxygen mask out before you do your child’s?”
“Yes, thank you I am familiar with that, except now I feel like I’m being compared to a child,” Olivia pouted.
Smiling again and taking the tray away, Natalia stood up from the side of the bed stating, “I’m going to leave you for a bit to settle down and get myself something to eat. You will call me if you want anything won’t you?”
Olivia returned the smile, “You know I will.”
Natalia left the room and Olivia sunk deeper beneath the covers.
Gradually she could feel herself giving in to her body’s pull to sleep, how she could be exhausted again she had no idea but she felt totally done in and washed out. With several layers on her now, she was vaguely amazed when she could feel herself start to shiver. Burrowing deeper she slept. Her mind alive, in part worked up by the conversation they’d had that afternoon about the citizens of Springfield and she dreamt.
***
Natalia had returned to the kitchen pleased that her charge had at least managed to eat one slice of toast. Not much but an accomplishment nonetheless. More so because, so far, she had kept that slice of toast down.
Considering that she’d have time to prepare some food for herself but not wanting to leave Olivia too long, Natalia threw some salad together, baked a potato and grated a little cheese on it to give it a bit more flavour. Although she had spent most of the day constantly on alert, she was pleased she had enough appetite left to enjoy her meal and calmed herself further in the ritual of washing up and clearing away the dishes.
Time to go check on Olivia.
Walking back into the bedroom she was amazed and horrified to see that Olivia had managed to virtually enshroud herself with the bed linen, yet was shivering almost violently.
Having had some experience with fever, Natalia knew she had to get Olivia cooled down. She stepped towards the bed and began to peel away the layers of bed clothing.
“N...No!” a juddering voice rasped.
Olivia was holding onto the covers with a determined grip.
“Olivia? I need to remove these covers. You’re burning up, do you understand me?” Natalia pulled on the covers again, another layer came away.
“No...” Olivia’s head was turning as if to match her words as she held onto the last layer.
“Olivia, please, you have to let go. I have to take this away.”
“No!” More forceful this time and Natalia was conscious of eyes upon her, trying to focus. “You can’t take her away. I won’t let you.”
“Olivia?” Natalia was confused now, having removed the final layer she realised that Olivia was also fully clothed.
“Emma,” she murmured.
“Emma’s not here sweetie, she’s with Ruth, she’s looking after her,” this didn’t seem to placate the agitated woman.
“I want my little girl. You think I won’t kill you to get my daughter back?”
Natalia blinked, did she just say kill?
Olivia was attempting to sit up now, “I want my daughter NOW!”
“Well, she’s not here Olivia, please calm down.”
Not hearing, seemingly caught either in a memory or a nightmare, Olivia continued, “I don’t care what Philip wanted, he’s dead!”
Dead? Philip? Natalia was confused now. She tried soothing noises again, convinced that Olivia was unaware of her presence.
“I’d do anything for my daughter, anything.”
“I know you would, I’ve seen it.”
“Your brother is a bastard and so are you, he tried to take my little girl away from me forever!”
Who was she talking to? She approached the distressed woman again and reached for her arm. Olivia flinched and pulled her arm away, backing up towards the headboard and staring straight at Natalia with unseeing eyes, “You’re trying to take her away too!”
“Oh no, Olivia I’m n...”
“Why don’t you people just leave us alone?” Olivia was beginning to sob now, “She’s my baby! Don’t you get it? Emma is my child. I’m not going to let you take my baby.”
Caught in the memory, Olivia seemed to get frantic again, raising her arm up and pointing in Natalia’s direction, Natalia stood back, “Please Gus, I don’t wanna shoot you but I will, please.”
Gus? Good Lord, when was this? Natalia stayed very still, feeling slightly silly standing there with her hands raised in surrender to a loaded finger but the intensity coming from the other woman left no doubt in Natalia’s mind that if that finger were loaded, she was seconds away from becoming a dead woman.
“Had to protect myself,” Olivia started to mumble, “Please, tell me where my baby is?”
“Olivia, she’s with Ruth...remember?”
“Shut up Philip!” venom spat towards her.
Natalia took a step forward, “Olivia...”
The finger raised at her again, “No, you tortured me, you pushed me,” Gasping breaths, angry sobs spitting out a world of hurt and betrayal, “You threatened me, you threatened to take everything away that I love, my entire life. You think I wouldn’t fight back? I will always fight back because I will always protect my daughter!”
With that, Olivia launched forward and tried to swing at Natalia who stepped back in surprise and then reached for the flailing woman; more worried she would hurt herself than do any damage to her. Capturing her arms Natalia turned the distraught woman so she was pulled back into a reverse hug.
“What are you doing? You need to calm down, you could hurt yourself.”
“You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
Holding Olivia in her arms, Natalia rested her head forward onto Olivia’s back. Now the adrenaline from the dream was abating, the older woman was shaking. Natalia steered her back towards the bed.
“How did I let this happen to me again?” Olivia said in a small voice that spoke directly to Natalia, “How did this happen again?”
Natalia realised she had been given a window into Olivia’s mind, a chance to see a side of her she knew was there, it was evident in her actions only the other day but while it answered so many questions it raised a lot more of them as well. Knowing she had no time to pick at what had been revealed for the moment, she moved towards the bed again and brushed back Olivia’s hair from her brow.
Olivia was still mumbling something, her shivers still pronounced.
Natalia knew she had to cool Olivia down and began the arduous task of trying to undress the shaking woman while Olivia continued to engage in a conversation Natalia could only hear one side of. Hoping the worst was over, she moved to open the window.
Olivia was reaching for blankets again and moving to climb up from the bed.
“No, Olivia, no. Listen to me. We need to get you cooled down.”
“Cold.”
“I know but trust me on this.” She leant forward to kiss Olivia’s brow.
“Philip has her,” a quiet, pleading voice, “he has my little girl.”
“Emma’s safe Olivia. Philip isn’t here, he doesn’t have her.” Unsure whether her reasoning was getting through but pleased that Olivia seemed to be relenting in her efforts to escape, Natalia tried again to settle the agitated woman back onto the bed.
“I’m going to get a washcloth and some water okay? I’ll be back in a minute.”
“’kay,” came the response and as Natalia hurriedly left the room Olivia turned on her side, hugging herself, trying to keep warm and dispel the anxiety that she had lost her baby once again.
TBC...
FANDOM: Guiding Light
PAIRING: Otalia
SUMMARY: Set mid-friendship, this is a hurt/comfort piece as I'm a hurt/comfort junkie. Olivia, Natalia and Emma decide to have a few days away...hopefully more interesting than the summary suggests. Please request before archiving.
RATING: PG for mild violence
Author's note: This is my first ever attempt at fanfic so I'm having to gather a lot of nerve to post it. With very deep thanks to my Canadian Buddy, Critic2000, who beta'd and prodded for this story to see a conclusion and provided insightful and useful comments throughout. I know most of Europe loves her for providing us with Otalia clips as soon as possible but to me, she's my very dear friend. (Course, the clips help ;o))
ADDITIONAL NOTE: Apologies if this isn't everyone's cup of tea but huge thanks again for those that are sticking with it, even if it's not going in the direction most probably hope or want it to go... but I have stated it's a hurt/comfort piece and it will remain in that vein throughout - you have been warned ;o)
DISCLAIMERS: I do not own Guiding Light or any of the characters. However some of Olivia's dialogue in this section is taken from a 2005 storyline and can be found on YouTube with the descriptive title 'Desperate Measures', Part 1 can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6jpHEVNtQg...=PL&index=9
Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Olivia really hadn’t known what to think when Natalia went all bossy on her and practically commanded her to... no, that wasn’t fair. She hadn’t commanded her but there was still a sense of desperation that her will be obeyed and Olivia was incapable of ignoring that. She didn’t know why, she just was. It had always been that way, right from the beginning when God had played his cruel joke and seemingly forced them to spend more time together.
It had kept her alive.
Maybe listening to Natalia now would keep her sane.
She didn’t understand why but she was feeling aches where she was sure she hadn’t bruised anything and for some reason, she could not get warm.
Reaching the bed, she crawled in fully clothed and with the blanket still wrapped around her.
She was still cold.
She was burrowing in as far as she could when Natalia finally walked in the room carrying a tray holding a couple of lightly buttered slices of toast. It smelled fantastic and her stomach grumbled in agreement. Sitting up again and pulling the ever present blanket tighter she took the tray that was lowered to her lap.
“Thanks,” she said as she took a bite of the toast, chewed and swallowed carefully; almost convinced her body would instantly rebel and throw the toast back out again. It didn’t so she took another bite and slowly worked her way through a slice.
The thought of eating another was too much however and she pushed the tray away.
“All done?”
“I’m sorry, I really don’t think I can...”
“Hey, it’s alright. You managed something so it’s a start right?”
She nodded and badly wanted to burrow in again. Wasn’t I here only hours before? In this almost exact same predicament? Argh! So much for a few days away.
She could feel her frustration kicking in again but counteracting that was the heaviness in her limbs. Her stomach had something to digest on again and worse, she was cold. She looked at Natalia, hovering expectantly, clearly wondering the same as her as to whether she was going to have a repeat performance of this afternoon.
Has she eaten yet?
“Have you eaten yet?”
Natalia smiled, “I thought I’d check you were okay first, guess really I should’ve had mine first though in case you put me off my appetite again, you know like when you fly and they tell you to sort your own oxygen mask out before you do your child’s?”
“Yes, thank you I am familiar with that, except now I feel like I’m being compared to a child,” Olivia pouted.
Smiling again and taking the tray away, Natalia stood up from the side of the bed stating, “I’m going to leave you for a bit to settle down and get myself something to eat. You will call me if you want anything won’t you?”
Olivia returned the smile, “You know I will.”
Natalia left the room and Olivia sunk deeper beneath the covers.
Gradually she could feel herself giving in to her body’s pull to sleep, how she could be exhausted again she had no idea but she felt totally done in and washed out. With several layers on her now, she was vaguely amazed when she could feel herself start to shiver. Burrowing deeper she slept. Her mind alive, in part worked up by the conversation they’d had that afternoon about the citizens of Springfield and she dreamt.
***
Natalia had returned to the kitchen pleased that her charge had at least managed to eat one slice of toast. Not much but an accomplishment nonetheless. More so because, so far, she had kept that slice of toast down.
Considering that she’d have time to prepare some food for herself but not wanting to leave Olivia too long, Natalia threw some salad together, baked a potato and grated a little cheese on it to give it a bit more flavour. Although she had spent most of the day constantly on alert, she was pleased she had enough appetite left to enjoy her meal and calmed herself further in the ritual of washing up and clearing away the dishes.
Time to go check on Olivia.
Walking back into the bedroom she was amazed and horrified to see that Olivia had managed to virtually enshroud herself with the bed linen, yet was shivering almost violently.
Having had some experience with fever, Natalia knew she had to get Olivia cooled down. She stepped towards the bed and began to peel away the layers of bed clothing.
“N...No!” a juddering voice rasped.
Olivia was holding onto the covers with a determined grip.
“Olivia? I need to remove these covers. You’re burning up, do you understand me?” Natalia pulled on the covers again, another layer came away.
“No...” Olivia’s head was turning as if to match her words as she held onto the last layer.
“Olivia, please, you have to let go. I have to take this away.”
“No!” More forceful this time and Natalia was conscious of eyes upon her, trying to focus. “You can’t take her away. I won’t let you.”
“Olivia?” Natalia was confused now, having removed the final layer she realised that Olivia was also fully clothed.
“Emma,” she murmured.
“Emma’s not here sweetie, she’s with Ruth, she’s looking after her,” this didn’t seem to placate the agitated woman.
“I want my little girl. You think I won’t kill you to get my daughter back?”
Natalia blinked, did she just say kill?
Olivia was attempting to sit up now, “I want my daughter NOW!”
“Well, she’s not here Olivia, please calm down.”
Not hearing, seemingly caught either in a memory or a nightmare, Olivia continued, “I don’t care what Philip wanted, he’s dead!”
Dead? Philip? Natalia was confused now. She tried soothing noises again, convinced that Olivia was unaware of her presence.
“I’d do anything for my daughter, anything.”
“I know you would, I’ve seen it.”
“Your brother is a bastard and so are you, he tried to take my little girl away from me forever!”
Who was she talking to? She approached the distressed woman again and reached for her arm. Olivia flinched and pulled her arm away, backing up towards the headboard and staring straight at Natalia with unseeing eyes, “You’re trying to take her away too!”
“Oh no, Olivia I’m n...”
“Why don’t you people just leave us alone?” Olivia was beginning to sob now, “She’s my baby! Don’t you get it? Emma is my child. I’m not going to let you take my baby.”
Caught in the memory, Olivia seemed to get frantic again, raising her arm up and pointing in Natalia’s direction, Natalia stood back, “Please Gus, I don’t wanna shoot you but I will, please.”
Gus? Good Lord, when was this? Natalia stayed very still, feeling slightly silly standing there with her hands raised in surrender to a loaded finger but the intensity coming from the other woman left no doubt in Natalia’s mind that if that finger were loaded, she was seconds away from becoming a dead woman.
“Had to protect myself,” Olivia started to mumble, “Please, tell me where my baby is?”
“Olivia, she’s with Ruth...remember?”
“Shut up Philip!” venom spat towards her.
Natalia took a step forward, “Olivia...”
The finger raised at her again, “No, you tortured me, you pushed me,” Gasping breaths, angry sobs spitting out a world of hurt and betrayal, “You threatened me, you threatened to take everything away that I love, my entire life. You think I wouldn’t fight back? I will always fight back because I will always protect my daughter!”
With that, Olivia launched forward and tried to swing at Natalia who stepped back in surprise and then reached for the flailing woman; more worried she would hurt herself than do any damage to her. Capturing her arms Natalia turned the distraught woman so she was pulled back into a reverse hug.
“What are you doing? You need to calm down, you could hurt yourself.”
“You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
Holding Olivia in her arms, Natalia rested her head forward onto Olivia’s back. Now the adrenaline from the dream was abating, the older woman was shaking. Natalia steered her back towards the bed.
“How did I let this happen to me again?” Olivia said in a small voice that spoke directly to Natalia, “How did this happen again?”
Natalia realised she had been given a window into Olivia’s mind, a chance to see a side of her she knew was there, it was evident in her actions only the other day but while it answered so many questions it raised a lot more of them as well. Knowing she had no time to pick at what had been revealed for the moment, she moved towards the bed again and brushed back Olivia’s hair from her brow.
Olivia was still mumbling something, her shivers still pronounced.
Natalia knew she had to cool Olivia down and began the arduous task of trying to undress the shaking woman while Olivia continued to engage in a conversation Natalia could only hear one side of. Hoping the worst was over, she moved to open the window.
Olivia was reaching for blankets again and moving to climb up from the bed.
“No, Olivia, no. Listen to me. We need to get you cooled down.”
“Cold.”
“I know but trust me on this.” She leant forward to kiss Olivia’s brow.
“Philip has her,” a quiet, pleading voice, “he has my little girl.”
“Emma’s safe Olivia. Philip isn’t here, he doesn’t have her.” Unsure whether her reasoning was getting through but pleased that Olivia seemed to be relenting in her efforts to escape, Natalia tried again to settle the agitated woman back onto the bed.
“I’m going to get a washcloth and some water okay? I’ll be back in a minute.”
“’kay,” came the response and as Natalia hurriedly left the room Olivia turned on her side, hugging herself, trying to keep warm and dispel the anxiety that she had lost her baby once again.
TBC...