Otalia fic - Heroes and Friends, 14/?
Title: Heroes and Friends
Fandom: Otalia
Rating: Mostly PG-13, eventual NC-17 for sex and violence (Not between our girls though…the violence that is…promise. The other? Well…teehee).
Disclaimer: These wonderful ladies and the rest of the town belong to CBS, Telenext, and P&G. I’m just having some fun with them.
Spoilers: I don’t think so. This story picks up at the “no more waiting” gazebo scene and goes off canon.
Summary: Nat gets the shock of her life and it turns Liv’s world upside down.
Warning: Not beta’d so if it sucks, there’s only me to blame.
Links to previous chapters:
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13
Chapter 14
The cool tile of the bathroom wall was a welcome relief to the flush heat of her cheeks. She closed her eyes when Lillian ran a damp paper towel over her forehead and around her mouth. She looked at the kind eyes of the older woman and felt new tears well-up in her eyes. She had forgotten what it was like to have a mother, to have someone to wipe away your tears and ease your pain, and that deep, empty ache that never really went away in her soul pulsed with a need to be healed.
“Thank you.”
Lillian stopped her preening over Olivia and smiled sadly at her before sitting down next to her and taking her hand. She was silent for a long moment before finally speaking. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“Do what?” Olivia’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“Take on the world.”
Olivia snorted and looked at her. “I may try, but that doesn’t mean I succeed.”
Lillian lightly squeezed the hand in hers. “Most of the time you do though, but even heroes have a breaking point. You couldn’t keep it up. It was bound to catch up with you.”
Her eyes narrowed as she glared at a spot on the door of the stall across from them, and she felt a cold determination slip into her soul. “I hate myself when I’m weak like this.”
The older woman laughed at this, and Olivia turned a hard glare on her. “What the hell’s that for?”
“Oh, my dear. You are definitely not weak. Think about the past year. Think about everything you’ve endured since your heart transplant. That alone would have sent most people running for the hills or at least begging for mercy.” She patted the hand in hers and continued. “But no, not you. You not only faced the pain of recovery and loss of someone you cared about, but you risked opening that new heart to a new love. You took a chance and accepted the pain that love can bring, even enough to walk away from it. Now look at you. Racing off on a wild goose chase with a madman to save the person you love, and you did it, Olivia. You saved Natalia!”
She heard the words, but she couldn’t accept them even if her heart knew they were true. “But I’ve cost so many so much. Buzz…God, Lillian, how am I going to face Buzz? He’s been through so much.”
“It will be hard. There’s no doubt about that, but we’ll all get through it. We’ll help each other get through it one step at a time. You’ve been strong enough to face all of these other problems head on. You can do this too.”
Olivia let out a long sigh. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Lillian shrugged and smiled at her. “Every hero needs a sidekick, right?”
“No offense, Lillian, but the only person I want to see in purple spandex and a cape is Natalia.”
The older woman quickly dropped Olivia’s hand and raised her own in defense. “None taken, trust me. Purple’s not my color anyway.”
Olivia laughed fully as she pushed up to her feet and offered her hand to Lillian who took it. She pointed to Olivia and suggested, “You may want to check that. Raccoon eyes and all.”
Olivia looked at herself in the mirror and nearly jumped back in shock. “God, I look like warmed over hell.” She splashed some cold water on her face and wiped at the dark circles under her eyes. “Better?”
“Much…come on.”
***************
The table where the food had been was now completely clean and any signs of anything edible were gone. Josh was sitting in the same chair as before but this time he was with two uniformed officers. He was nodding his head and answering questions. Rick stood behind the officers near the nurse’s station but close enough that he could hear everything that was said.
Josh looked up and made eye contact with Olivia and the action drew the attention of the officers. They both rose and flashed their badges at her.
“Are you Olivia Spencer?”
Olivia looked worried between Josh and Lillian and then Rick before looking back at Josh, who quietly nodded his head at her.
“Yes.”
“We’d like to ask you a couple of questions about what happened on San Cristobel.”
She tried to shrug nonchalantly. She hadn’t really considered the implications killing a member of the royal family would bring, but as she had watched the life drain from Edmund’s body, she really didn’t care who he was or who he knew. All she knew was that Natalia had been at his mercy for days, and she feared what she’d find when she finally did see Natalia.
“Sure, that’s fine.” Josh stood and offered her his seat.
The younger of the two officers started off. “Mr. Lewis gave us a summary of what happened, but we’d like to hear it in your words too.”
“Okay? So where should I start?”
The older officer flipped to a clean page in his notepad. “The beginning would be good.”
The vagueness of the comment was enough to rub Olivia the wrong way but feeling Josh’s hand on her shoulder, she decided to let it go. Honestly, where should she start? For her and Natalia, there were so many beginnings. If she really wanted to she could start at the barbeque, but she doubted they’d be concerned with Natalia not showing up for the three-legged race.
So, she started at the most obvious point and that’s where she realized Edmund had taken Natalia. She recounted in detail all that got them here on San Talos including how she attacked and killed Edmund Winslow out of a desire to protect Natalia and Rafe. Her defenses had obviously gone up when she saw the police officers, but after a few questions, she realized they had no intentions of charging her with anything. It was pretty clear that Edmund had gone mad and he had kidnapped Natalia when she had merely been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The officers gave Olivia and Josh a “talking to” about taking matters into their own hands and how they should have involved the authorities, but all Olivia could do was give a mental eye roll knowing personally how useless the authorities were at times. There was too much red tape and not enough action, and Olivia was all about taking action, especially where those she loved was concerned.
After a few closing questions, the officers thanked Olivia and Josh and excused themselves. Olivia ran tired hands through her hair and looked up at the clock on the wall. The darkness outside had let her know that the day had come and gone, but as she eyed the time on the clock, she knew it wouldn’t be long before Buzz arrived.
She looked at Josh with determination. “Can you stay here and keep an eye out for Buzz? I want to have a chance to talk to Natalia before chaos breaks loose.”
“Are you sure you don’t need a little moral support?”
She knew he offered because he cared, but she squeezed his arm instead. “Thanks, but I really just need to be alone with Natalia right now.”
He nodded his understanding and took up sentry as he waited for Buzz.
************
Olivia let her hand rest on the cool metal of the door handle for a moment, taking a steadying breath knowing this would be hard. With everything that had happened, it was overwhelming just trying to make sense of it. She knew Natalia would have a million questions and God knows how she’d react finding out that Rafe and Frank were there too. Olivia just knew she wanted to inform Natalia of everything before Buzz and any other Coopers decided to descend like vultures on fresh prey. Olivia already felt her defensive hackles rise at the mere thought of anyone putting blame on Natalia.
With a deep sigh, she turned the handle and entered the cool, shadowed room. The numerous wires and tubes made Natalia’s condition seem far worse than it was, and Olivia felt her heart skip a beat in dread at seeing her like this. It wasn’t supposed to be Natalia. If anyone was hurt or on death’s door, it was supposed to be Olivia. That was just how it worked, and Olivia had a hard time being on the other side of this situation.
She slid in quietly and took a seat on the edge of Natalia’s bed. Her hand instinctively reached down and cradled the long, cool fingers of her partner. She raised it and placed a gentle kiss on the knuckles, breathing in the sweet scent of her skin.
“Natalia? Honey?”
A soft moan was her answer.
She leaned over and brushed the hair from Natalia’s face, trying to gently rouse her from sleep.
“Baby? It’s me. Wake up.”
Dark lashes fluttered as Natalia struggled to open her eyes against the power of the drugs she was being given. Another soft moan, then, “Olivia?”
“I’m here, baby. Can you wake up for me?”
“Trying, so tired.”
Olivia caressed the hand she held in her lap, hoping the tactile sensation would stir her to attention. “I know. I miss seeing your beautiful brown eyes though. I’ve waited patiently, and you know I’m not good at patient.”
A lazy smirk graced Natalia’s lips as her eyes fought to open. “Don’t I know it!”
“Oh, yes you do.” Olivia deliberately returned the flirtatious banter. “And I’m awfully tired of waiting on you.”
“Mmmmmmm, no more waiting.” Warm, brown eyes finally opened and settled on Olivia and the older woman felt her heart skip a beat at the words Natalia had said to her in what seemed like a lifetime ago.
Olivia ran a hand over Natalia’s cheek and cupped it. “Now that’s a sight for sore eyes.”
“You’re not so bad yourself, Ms. Spencer.” The sleep in Natalia’s voice was slowly fading, but the awareness was taking over. “Where am I?”
Olivia would have loved to keep up the playful banter and ignored the need for this conversation. However, she sighed and jumped in the deep end. “A hospital on San Talos.”
“Hospital?”
“Yeah. You’re okay though. The doctor says you’re going to be fine. Rick’s here too. He checked on you as well and said the same thing so I got a second opinion already.”
Natalia closed her eyes tight, a look of fear and pain and another emotion Olivia wasn’t used to seeing - anger - etching across her face, as she remembered the events that brought her here.
“Edmund.” She gritted out through her teeth.
“Yeah.”
Natalia shook her head slightly. “Where…? Did…?”
“Shhh, don’t worry about him anymore. He’s dead. He can’t hurt anyone anymore.”
The soft hand resting in Olivia’s suddenly squeezed hard as she fought to sit up. “Oh my God, Olivia. Rafe…Rafe was there.”
Her heart lurched at the look on fear and panic on Natalia’s face, but she swallowed around the pain and guided her back to the bed. “He’s okay, baby. Just calm down. He’s fine.”
The panic was still in Natalia’s voice. “He didn’t look fine, Olivia. He was unconscious on the floor, and Edmund just tossed him like a ragdoll. I thought he was dead, but he had a pulse and…”
“Baby, please. It’s okay. He’s okay.” She squeezed the hand reassuringly and used her free hand to turn Natalia’s face so she was looking into her eyes and understood what Olivia said. “Listen to me. He’s fine. Okay?”
Natalia took a deep shuddering breath. “Okay…okay.”
“All he had was a badly broken arm, but they took him to surgery and fixed him up. He’s going to be fine. In fact, I saw him and if they keep him on those pain meds, he’ll never feel a thing.”
Natalia flopped her head back on her pillow, suddenly exhausted. “Thank God!” Then, after a long moment of silence, she turned a hard look on Olivia. “What exactly was my son doing there anyway?”
Olivia felt the sting of the look and was thankful that she had at least fought him coming along now, if for no other reason than to rightfully avoid Natalia’s ire. “Insisting on saving you from the bad guys. I tried to stop him and Frank, but he wouldn’t’ take no for an answer.”
Olivia realized the mistake in her statement the moment that Natalia went ghostly white. “Frank? Oh God…Frank. He was…”
“Shot.”
Natalia shook as the tears slipped from her eyes. She raised a hand and looked at it, seeing the blood from before in her mind. “There was so much blood. I felt it, the wound. And his pulse…it was so weak. Is he…?
The question hung in the air, and Olivia looked down at their joined hands.
“Olivia? Is Frank…?”
A tear fell down her own cheek, and she felt the weight of her guilt pushing down on her. “Not yet.”
“Yet?” Natalia’s voice was almost a whisper.
“It won’t be long.”
“Oh God.” Natalia gasped and tried to cover her cries with her free hand. She looked at Olivia, and they both acknowledged in their tears and the loss of a friend that Frank deserved more than what he had gotten in his life. Natalia reached for Olivia and pulled her down beside her as she curled up into a ball at her side. Olivia cradled and rocked her until the tears subsided. With whispered words and gentle kisses, Olivia eased Natalia back into an exhausted sleep.
Fandom: Otalia
Rating: Mostly PG-13, eventual NC-17 for sex and violence (Not between our girls though…the violence that is…promise. The other? Well…teehee).
Disclaimer: These wonderful ladies and the rest of the town belong to CBS, Telenext, and P&G. I’m just having some fun with them.
Spoilers: I don’t think so. This story picks up at the “no more waiting” gazebo scene and goes off canon.
Summary: Nat gets the shock of her life and it turns Liv’s world upside down.
Warning: Not beta’d so if it sucks, there’s only me to blame.
Links to previous chapters:
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13
Chapter 14
The cool tile of the bathroom wall was a welcome relief to the flush heat of her cheeks. She closed her eyes when Lillian ran a damp paper towel over her forehead and around her mouth. She looked at the kind eyes of the older woman and felt new tears well-up in her eyes. She had forgotten what it was like to have a mother, to have someone to wipe away your tears and ease your pain, and that deep, empty ache that never really went away in her soul pulsed with a need to be healed.
“Thank you.”
Lillian stopped her preening over Olivia and smiled sadly at her before sitting down next to her and taking her hand. She was silent for a long moment before finally speaking. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“Do what?” Olivia’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“Take on the world.”
Olivia snorted and looked at her. “I may try, but that doesn’t mean I succeed.”
Lillian lightly squeezed the hand in hers. “Most of the time you do though, but even heroes have a breaking point. You couldn’t keep it up. It was bound to catch up with you.”
Her eyes narrowed as she glared at a spot on the door of the stall across from them, and she felt a cold determination slip into her soul. “I hate myself when I’m weak like this.”
The older woman laughed at this, and Olivia turned a hard glare on her. “What the hell’s that for?”
“Oh, my dear. You are definitely not weak. Think about the past year. Think about everything you’ve endured since your heart transplant. That alone would have sent most people running for the hills or at least begging for mercy.” She patted the hand in hers and continued. “But no, not you. You not only faced the pain of recovery and loss of someone you cared about, but you risked opening that new heart to a new love. You took a chance and accepted the pain that love can bring, even enough to walk away from it. Now look at you. Racing off on a wild goose chase with a madman to save the person you love, and you did it, Olivia. You saved Natalia!”
She heard the words, but she couldn’t accept them even if her heart knew they were true. “But I’ve cost so many so much. Buzz…God, Lillian, how am I going to face Buzz? He’s been through so much.”
“It will be hard. There’s no doubt about that, but we’ll all get through it. We’ll help each other get through it one step at a time. You’ve been strong enough to face all of these other problems head on. You can do this too.”
Olivia let out a long sigh. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Lillian shrugged and smiled at her. “Every hero needs a sidekick, right?”
“No offense, Lillian, but the only person I want to see in purple spandex and a cape is Natalia.”
The older woman quickly dropped Olivia’s hand and raised her own in defense. “None taken, trust me. Purple’s not my color anyway.”
Olivia laughed fully as she pushed up to her feet and offered her hand to Lillian who took it. She pointed to Olivia and suggested, “You may want to check that. Raccoon eyes and all.”
Olivia looked at herself in the mirror and nearly jumped back in shock. “God, I look like warmed over hell.” She splashed some cold water on her face and wiped at the dark circles under her eyes. “Better?”
“Much…come on.”
***************
The table where the food had been was now completely clean and any signs of anything edible were gone. Josh was sitting in the same chair as before but this time he was with two uniformed officers. He was nodding his head and answering questions. Rick stood behind the officers near the nurse’s station but close enough that he could hear everything that was said.
Josh looked up and made eye contact with Olivia and the action drew the attention of the officers. They both rose and flashed their badges at her.
“Are you Olivia Spencer?”
Olivia looked worried between Josh and Lillian and then Rick before looking back at Josh, who quietly nodded his head at her.
“Yes.”
“We’d like to ask you a couple of questions about what happened on San Cristobel.”
She tried to shrug nonchalantly. She hadn’t really considered the implications killing a member of the royal family would bring, but as she had watched the life drain from Edmund’s body, she really didn’t care who he was or who he knew. All she knew was that Natalia had been at his mercy for days, and she feared what she’d find when she finally did see Natalia.
“Sure, that’s fine.” Josh stood and offered her his seat.
The younger of the two officers started off. “Mr. Lewis gave us a summary of what happened, but we’d like to hear it in your words too.”
“Okay? So where should I start?”
The older officer flipped to a clean page in his notepad. “The beginning would be good.”
The vagueness of the comment was enough to rub Olivia the wrong way but feeling Josh’s hand on her shoulder, she decided to let it go. Honestly, where should she start? For her and Natalia, there were so many beginnings. If she really wanted to she could start at the barbeque, but she doubted they’d be concerned with Natalia not showing up for the three-legged race.
So, she started at the most obvious point and that’s where she realized Edmund had taken Natalia. She recounted in detail all that got them here on San Talos including how she attacked and killed Edmund Winslow out of a desire to protect Natalia and Rafe. Her defenses had obviously gone up when she saw the police officers, but after a few questions, she realized they had no intentions of charging her with anything. It was pretty clear that Edmund had gone mad and he had kidnapped Natalia when she had merely been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The officers gave Olivia and Josh a “talking to” about taking matters into their own hands and how they should have involved the authorities, but all Olivia could do was give a mental eye roll knowing personally how useless the authorities were at times. There was too much red tape and not enough action, and Olivia was all about taking action, especially where those she loved was concerned.
After a few closing questions, the officers thanked Olivia and Josh and excused themselves. Olivia ran tired hands through her hair and looked up at the clock on the wall. The darkness outside had let her know that the day had come and gone, but as she eyed the time on the clock, she knew it wouldn’t be long before Buzz arrived.
She looked at Josh with determination. “Can you stay here and keep an eye out for Buzz? I want to have a chance to talk to Natalia before chaos breaks loose.”
“Are you sure you don’t need a little moral support?”
She knew he offered because he cared, but she squeezed his arm instead. “Thanks, but I really just need to be alone with Natalia right now.”
He nodded his understanding and took up sentry as he waited for Buzz.
************
Olivia let her hand rest on the cool metal of the door handle for a moment, taking a steadying breath knowing this would be hard. With everything that had happened, it was overwhelming just trying to make sense of it. She knew Natalia would have a million questions and God knows how she’d react finding out that Rafe and Frank were there too. Olivia just knew she wanted to inform Natalia of everything before Buzz and any other Coopers decided to descend like vultures on fresh prey. Olivia already felt her defensive hackles rise at the mere thought of anyone putting blame on Natalia.
With a deep sigh, she turned the handle and entered the cool, shadowed room. The numerous wires and tubes made Natalia’s condition seem far worse than it was, and Olivia felt her heart skip a beat in dread at seeing her like this. It wasn’t supposed to be Natalia. If anyone was hurt or on death’s door, it was supposed to be Olivia. That was just how it worked, and Olivia had a hard time being on the other side of this situation.
She slid in quietly and took a seat on the edge of Natalia’s bed. Her hand instinctively reached down and cradled the long, cool fingers of her partner. She raised it and placed a gentle kiss on the knuckles, breathing in the sweet scent of her skin.
“Natalia? Honey?”
A soft moan was her answer.
She leaned over and brushed the hair from Natalia’s face, trying to gently rouse her from sleep.
“Baby? It’s me. Wake up.”
Dark lashes fluttered as Natalia struggled to open her eyes against the power of the drugs she was being given. Another soft moan, then, “Olivia?”
“I’m here, baby. Can you wake up for me?”
“Trying, so tired.”
Olivia caressed the hand she held in her lap, hoping the tactile sensation would stir her to attention. “I know. I miss seeing your beautiful brown eyes though. I’ve waited patiently, and you know I’m not good at patient.”
A lazy smirk graced Natalia’s lips as her eyes fought to open. “Don’t I know it!”
“Oh, yes you do.” Olivia deliberately returned the flirtatious banter. “And I’m awfully tired of waiting on you.”
“Mmmmmmm, no more waiting.” Warm, brown eyes finally opened and settled on Olivia and the older woman felt her heart skip a beat at the words Natalia had said to her in what seemed like a lifetime ago.
Olivia ran a hand over Natalia’s cheek and cupped it. “Now that’s a sight for sore eyes.”
“You’re not so bad yourself, Ms. Spencer.” The sleep in Natalia’s voice was slowly fading, but the awareness was taking over. “Where am I?”
Olivia would have loved to keep up the playful banter and ignored the need for this conversation. However, she sighed and jumped in the deep end. “A hospital on San Talos.”
“Hospital?”
“Yeah. You’re okay though. The doctor says you’re going to be fine. Rick’s here too. He checked on you as well and said the same thing so I got a second opinion already.”
Natalia closed her eyes tight, a look of fear and pain and another emotion Olivia wasn’t used to seeing - anger - etching across her face, as she remembered the events that brought her here.
“Edmund.” She gritted out through her teeth.
“Yeah.”
Natalia shook her head slightly. “Where…? Did…?”
“Shhh, don’t worry about him anymore. He’s dead. He can’t hurt anyone anymore.”
The soft hand resting in Olivia’s suddenly squeezed hard as she fought to sit up. “Oh my God, Olivia. Rafe…Rafe was there.”
Her heart lurched at the look on fear and panic on Natalia’s face, but she swallowed around the pain and guided her back to the bed. “He’s okay, baby. Just calm down. He’s fine.”
The panic was still in Natalia’s voice. “He didn’t look fine, Olivia. He was unconscious on the floor, and Edmund just tossed him like a ragdoll. I thought he was dead, but he had a pulse and…”
“Baby, please. It’s okay. He’s okay.” She squeezed the hand reassuringly and used her free hand to turn Natalia’s face so she was looking into her eyes and understood what Olivia said. “Listen to me. He’s fine. Okay?”
Natalia took a deep shuddering breath. “Okay…okay.”
“All he had was a badly broken arm, but they took him to surgery and fixed him up. He’s going to be fine. In fact, I saw him and if they keep him on those pain meds, he’ll never feel a thing.”
Natalia flopped her head back on her pillow, suddenly exhausted. “Thank God!” Then, after a long moment of silence, she turned a hard look on Olivia. “What exactly was my son doing there anyway?”
Olivia felt the sting of the look and was thankful that she had at least fought him coming along now, if for no other reason than to rightfully avoid Natalia’s ire. “Insisting on saving you from the bad guys. I tried to stop him and Frank, but he wouldn’t’ take no for an answer.”
Olivia realized the mistake in her statement the moment that Natalia went ghostly white. “Frank? Oh God…Frank. He was…”
“Shot.”
Natalia shook as the tears slipped from her eyes. She raised a hand and looked at it, seeing the blood from before in her mind. “There was so much blood. I felt it, the wound. And his pulse…it was so weak. Is he…?
The question hung in the air, and Olivia looked down at their joined hands.
“Olivia? Is Frank…?”
A tear fell down her own cheek, and she felt the weight of her guilt pushing down on her. “Not yet.”
“Yet?” Natalia’s voice was almost a whisper.
“It won’t be long.”
“Oh God.” Natalia gasped and tried to cover her cries with her free hand. She looked at Olivia, and they both acknowledged in their tears and the loss of a friend that Frank deserved more than what he had gotten in his life. Natalia reached for Olivia and pulled her down beside her as she curled up into a ball at her side. Olivia cradled and rocked her until the tears subsided. With whispered words and gentle kisses, Olivia eased Natalia back into an exhausted sleep.