FIC: Turn To Me part 9/?; Guiding Light
TITLE: Turn To Me
AUTHOR: Wonko
FANDOM: Guiding Light
RATING: PG for this part.
SUMMARY: Natalia is forced to come to terms with her feelings alone when Olivia is injured.
TIMELINE: Begins immediately after the episode on 17th of April and diverges from the canon storyline at that point.
A/N - I love weekends because I get to post early! And now I get to go and mark twenty-five essays - boo!
[ Part 1] [ Part 2] [ Part 3] [ Part 4] [ Part 5] [ Part 6] [ Part 7] [ Part 8]
Natalia sat with Olivia for a long time before the buzz of her cellphone in her pocket brought her back to reality. There were two texts from Philip she hadn't read. The first had come in at 11am saying Taking Emma to the zoo. The second had arrived at exactly 1pm and said Emma says the lioness reminds her of you, I wonder why? She managed a smile. At least he was holding up to his end of the bargain, even if he did still make her a little nervous. She dashed off a quick reply - Bring her to the farmhouse at 5 please - and returned her attention to Olivia.
"Well, I have to go for a little while," she said, brushing Olivia's hair away from her face. "I have a few errands I need to run, but I'll be back to sit with you soon." She kissed Olivia's smooth forehead almost reverently, and suddenly remembered being in a similar position once before. She had almost kissed Olivia then, had come so close to taking that final step. She remembered the pounding of her heart, the tingling of her lips, the sense of absolute inevitability. She'd hardly been able to breathe when Olivia woke up and shattered the spell. And she'd run, literally and metaphorically, as far and as fast as she could.
She could have that kiss right now she realised, her heart thundering in her ears. Olivia wasn't going to wake up and stop her, she was going to be under for another day at least. She could quench a little bit of the slow fire that had been raging in her belly for so long. Her eyes drifted to those intoxicating lips and she nearly - nearly - gave in.
"Oh, you'd better wake up soon," she muttered, diverting her lips to the sleeping woman's cheek instead. "I really, really need you to kiss me."
With one last longing look at the woman she was so spectacularly in love with, she gathered her things and made for the door. And ran smack into Rick who was coming in at the same time.
"Whoah," he said, grasping her arms to keep her steady.
"Sorry," she said, smiling. "I was just going off to run a few errands."
"I need to talk to you first," he said, holding out yet another clipboard with forms for her to sign.
"Oh, this looks fun," she muttered, sitting down again and taking the clipboard and pen from him.
He smiled. "It's about the fractures this time," he explained. "The arm is a good clean break, we'll just put it in a cast for six weeks or so and that'll be that. It's the leg that's concerning us."
Natalia skimmed the form he'd given her, not really taking in any of the medical jargon but she was pretty sure she understood the phrase 'compound fracture of the tibia'. "So what do you need to do?" she asked.
"Well," Rick replied, drawing up a chair. "Basically we need to do a little surgery on the leg. We'll insert a titanium nail into the bone, and clear a few things up in there. It's actually not that bad - at least she didn't damage the ankle or the knee too. This has a good prognosis for a full recovery, eventually."
"Eventually?" she repeated.
"Well, she'll need to stay completely off the leg for at least six weeks," he explained. "Once the cast on the arm's off we can think about letting her use crutches for limited periods. When the leg cast comes off her muscles will have atrophied somewhat, so that'll require some physical therapy. All in all I'd say she should be pretty much back to normal in five, six months."
Natalia sat in silence for a moment. "Six months," she repeated dully. "Wow. That's...uh, that's a pretty long recovery."
Rick nodded. "And it'll be boring and painful," he said, not really sounding too sorry about it. "But listen, we really need to get this nail inserted right away. We should have done it yesterday, but we had to deal with the head injury first."
Natalia quickly signed the form. "Okay," she said. "Well...let me know when she's out of surgery," she said, standing.
"No problem," he said. "Listen, about what I was saying yesterday-" he began, but Natalia held up her hand.
"Can I talk to you about it later?" she asked. "I really need to make a few calls as soon as I can. I'll be back tonight, okay?" With that she was gone.
Rick watched her leave, uneasiness settling over him like a blanket. He looked down at Olivia. "Okay, let's get you cut open," he murmured, and pressed the call button for a nurse.
* * * * * *
By the time five o'clock rolled around Natalia was exhausted and sweaty but extremely satisfied. Olivia's very confused movers had been called and had spent a couple of hours bringing back all the things they'd carted out of the farmhouse the previous day. Then Natalia had woken Rafe and enlisted his help in putting everything back where it belonged. Olivia's bedroom looked like Olivia's bedroom again. The only thing missing was the woman herself.
Natalia had even managed to avoid crying all day. She'd only come close once when she was making Olivia's bed with fresh sheets. Her hand had scraped against something under the pillow which turned out to be a photo of her and Emma that Olivia had taken sometime in February - after the two mommies debacle and before the Philip catastrophe. Natalia was looking right at the camera with shining eyes and Emma was looking at Natalia with such glee and love that it made her heart ache. Reverently she had placed it back under the pillow where she found it, her heart almost bursting with love for the woman who had first put it there. Natalia wondered if Olivia would ever stop surprising her. She really, really hoped not.
Philip dropped Emma off at exactly five o'clock. "I'm behaving myself," he said as Emma rushed passed Natalia to see what she'd done to her room in the one night since she'd been gone.
"Do you...uh...want to stay for dinner?" She wasn't quite sure what had prompted her to ask, and was extremely relieved when he shook his head.
"You know, maybe I'll take you up on that another time," he said.
She resisted the urge to let out a calming breath. "Okay...well, thanks for looking after Emma."
"Anytime," he said seriously. "I mean it. I love my daughter very much. I'd never do anything to hurt her."
Natalia nodded tightly as she showed him to the door. The day had gone some way to allowing her to begin trusting him but she wasn't there yet. Not by a long shot.
"You put my books in the wrong place, mama," Emma scolded her as she came back into the kitchen.
Natalia shook her head, a smile breaking out on her face. "They're on your bookshelf aren't they?" she asked, ruffling Emma's hair.
"But they're not in the same order!" Emma protested.
Natalia chuckled. She hadn't been able to resist arranging the books in order of height rather than the higgelty-piggelty way Emma had had them before. "Well, why don't you go and fix that while I make us some dinner, hmm?"
Emma scampered off to do just that. Natalia smiled after her. She hadn't asked about her mom yet, something for which Natalia was grateful. She wasn't sure what she was going to tell her when she demanded to see her. One thing was for sure, she definitely didn't want to let her see Olivia until she was conscious and able to reassure her personally that she was all right.
For an hour or so Natalia devoted herself to cooking, glad of the normality of chopping, frying and simmering. She could hear Emma and Rafe moving around the house and for a few moments she almost let herself forget that there was a piece of her heart lying in a hospital bed across town. Momentarily she allowed herself to lapse into a fantasy - her children safe and happy in the other room, dinner simmering gently on the stove, and Olivia slipping up behind her, wrapping her arms round her waist and resting her chin on her shoulder. She closed her eyes and sighed, almost able to feel those strong arms around her, almost able to smell the scent of her skin...
"Hey ma, what's for dinner?" Rafe yelled from the living room, jerking her back to reality without ceremony.
"Uh..." She had to clear her throat. "Chicken and rice," she called back. "And don't yell in the house, okay?"
"Okay," he yelled. Natalia rolled her eyes.
An hour later, bellies full, the three of them settled down on the couch to watch TV. Emma pressed herself against Natalia's side, her small arms wrapped around her waist. When the phone rang Rafe got up to answer it. "Hello," he said, then listened for a few moments. "It's for you ma," he explained, carrying the handset over to her. "It's Doctor Rick."
"Hi, Rick," she said, a smile in her voice as she raised the phone to her ear. "So, is her leg bionic yet?" Rafe watched as the smile slipped from his mother's face. "What? But...it's too early, isn't it? I thought it'd be another day?" Rafe sat up a little straighter. "Okay," his mother said. "I'll...I'll be right there."
Rafe was sure Doctor Rick was still talking but Natalia had already hung up and made a dash for the coat rack. "Hey, what's going on ma?" he said, following her.
"You need to look after Em for a while, okay?" she said, ignoring his question.
"Ma!" he repeated. "What is it?"
She turned to him, a mix of worry and hope swimming in her eyes. "She's awake!"
TBC...
AUTHOR: Wonko
FANDOM: Guiding Light
RATING: PG for this part.
SUMMARY: Natalia is forced to come to terms with her feelings alone when Olivia is injured.
TIMELINE: Begins immediately after the episode on 17th of April and diverges from the canon storyline at that point.
A/N - I love weekends because I get to post early! And now I get to go and mark twenty-five essays - boo!
[ Part 1] [ Part 2] [ Part 3] [ Part 4] [ Part 5] [ Part 6] [ Part 7] [ Part 8]
Natalia sat with Olivia for a long time before the buzz of her cellphone in her pocket brought her back to reality. There were two texts from Philip she hadn't read. The first had come in at 11am saying Taking Emma to the zoo. The second had arrived at exactly 1pm and said Emma says the lioness reminds her of you, I wonder why? She managed a smile. At least he was holding up to his end of the bargain, even if he did still make her a little nervous. She dashed off a quick reply - Bring her to the farmhouse at 5 please - and returned her attention to Olivia.
"Well, I have to go for a little while," she said, brushing Olivia's hair away from her face. "I have a few errands I need to run, but I'll be back to sit with you soon." She kissed Olivia's smooth forehead almost reverently, and suddenly remembered being in a similar position once before. She had almost kissed Olivia then, had come so close to taking that final step. She remembered the pounding of her heart, the tingling of her lips, the sense of absolute inevitability. She'd hardly been able to breathe when Olivia woke up and shattered the spell. And she'd run, literally and metaphorically, as far and as fast as she could.
She could have that kiss right now she realised, her heart thundering in her ears. Olivia wasn't going to wake up and stop her, she was going to be under for another day at least. She could quench a little bit of the slow fire that had been raging in her belly for so long. Her eyes drifted to those intoxicating lips and she nearly - nearly - gave in.
"Oh, you'd better wake up soon," she muttered, diverting her lips to the sleeping woman's cheek instead. "I really, really need you to kiss me."
With one last longing look at the woman she was so spectacularly in love with, she gathered her things and made for the door. And ran smack into Rick who was coming in at the same time.
"Whoah," he said, grasping her arms to keep her steady.
"Sorry," she said, smiling. "I was just going off to run a few errands."
"I need to talk to you first," he said, holding out yet another clipboard with forms for her to sign.
"Oh, this looks fun," she muttered, sitting down again and taking the clipboard and pen from him.
He smiled. "It's about the fractures this time," he explained. "The arm is a good clean break, we'll just put it in a cast for six weeks or so and that'll be that. It's the leg that's concerning us."
Natalia skimmed the form he'd given her, not really taking in any of the medical jargon but she was pretty sure she understood the phrase 'compound fracture of the tibia'. "So what do you need to do?" she asked.
"Well," Rick replied, drawing up a chair. "Basically we need to do a little surgery on the leg. We'll insert a titanium nail into the bone, and clear a few things up in there. It's actually not that bad - at least she didn't damage the ankle or the knee too. This has a good prognosis for a full recovery, eventually."
"Eventually?" she repeated.
"Well, she'll need to stay completely off the leg for at least six weeks," he explained. "Once the cast on the arm's off we can think about letting her use crutches for limited periods. When the leg cast comes off her muscles will have atrophied somewhat, so that'll require some physical therapy. All in all I'd say she should be pretty much back to normal in five, six months."
Natalia sat in silence for a moment. "Six months," she repeated dully. "Wow. That's...uh, that's a pretty long recovery."
Rick nodded. "And it'll be boring and painful," he said, not really sounding too sorry about it. "But listen, we really need to get this nail inserted right away. We should have done it yesterday, but we had to deal with the head injury first."
Natalia quickly signed the form. "Okay," she said. "Well...let me know when she's out of surgery," she said, standing.
"No problem," he said. "Listen, about what I was saying yesterday-" he began, but Natalia held up her hand.
"Can I talk to you about it later?" she asked. "I really need to make a few calls as soon as I can. I'll be back tonight, okay?" With that she was gone.
Rick watched her leave, uneasiness settling over him like a blanket. He looked down at Olivia. "Okay, let's get you cut open," he murmured, and pressed the call button for a nurse.
* * * * * *
By the time five o'clock rolled around Natalia was exhausted and sweaty but extremely satisfied. Olivia's very confused movers had been called and had spent a couple of hours bringing back all the things they'd carted out of the farmhouse the previous day. Then Natalia had woken Rafe and enlisted his help in putting everything back where it belonged. Olivia's bedroom looked like Olivia's bedroom again. The only thing missing was the woman herself.
Natalia had even managed to avoid crying all day. She'd only come close once when she was making Olivia's bed with fresh sheets. Her hand had scraped against something under the pillow which turned out to be a photo of her and Emma that Olivia had taken sometime in February - after the two mommies debacle and before the Philip catastrophe. Natalia was looking right at the camera with shining eyes and Emma was looking at Natalia with such glee and love that it made her heart ache. Reverently she had placed it back under the pillow where she found it, her heart almost bursting with love for the woman who had first put it there. Natalia wondered if Olivia would ever stop surprising her. She really, really hoped not.
Philip dropped Emma off at exactly five o'clock. "I'm behaving myself," he said as Emma rushed passed Natalia to see what she'd done to her room in the one night since she'd been gone.
"Do you...uh...want to stay for dinner?" She wasn't quite sure what had prompted her to ask, and was extremely relieved when he shook his head.
"You know, maybe I'll take you up on that another time," he said.
She resisted the urge to let out a calming breath. "Okay...well, thanks for looking after Emma."
"Anytime," he said seriously. "I mean it. I love my daughter very much. I'd never do anything to hurt her."
Natalia nodded tightly as she showed him to the door. The day had gone some way to allowing her to begin trusting him but she wasn't there yet. Not by a long shot.
"You put my books in the wrong place, mama," Emma scolded her as she came back into the kitchen.
Natalia shook her head, a smile breaking out on her face. "They're on your bookshelf aren't they?" she asked, ruffling Emma's hair.
"But they're not in the same order!" Emma protested.
Natalia chuckled. She hadn't been able to resist arranging the books in order of height rather than the higgelty-piggelty way Emma had had them before. "Well, why don't you go and fix that while I make us some dinner, hmm?"
Emma scampered off to do just that. Natalia smiled after her. She hadn't asked about her mom yet, something for which Natalia was grateful. She wasn't sure what she was going to tell her when she demanded to see her. One thing was for sure, she definitely didn't want to let her see Olivia until she was conscious and able to reassure her personally that she was all right.
For an hour or so Natalia devoted herself to cooking, glad of the normality of chopping, frying and simmering. She could hear Emma and Rafe moving around the house and for a few moments she almost let herself forget that there was a piece of her heart lying in a hospital bed across town. Momentarily she allowed herself to lapse into a fantasy - her children safe and happy in the other room, dinner simmering gently on the stove, and Olivia slipping up behind her, wrapping her arms round her waist and resting her chin on her shoulder. She closed her eyes and sighed, almost able to feel those strong arms around her, almost able to smell the scent of her skin...
"Hey ma, what's for dinner?" Rafe yelled from the living room, jerking her back to reality without ceremony.
"Uh..." She had to clear her throat. "Chicken and rice," she called back. "And don't yell in the house, okay?"
"Okay," he yelled. Natalia rolled her eyes.
An hour later, bellies full, the three of them settled down on the couch to watch TV. Emma pressed herself against Natalia's side, her small arms wrapped around her waist. When the phone rang Rafe got up to answer it. "Hello," he said, then listened for a few moments. "It's for you ma," he explained, carrying the handset over to her. "It's Doctor Rick."
"Hi, Rick," she said, a smile in her voice as she raised the phone to her ear. "So, is her leg bionic yet?" Rafe watched as the smile slipped from his mother's face. "What? But...it's too early, isn't it? I thought it'd be another day?" Rafe sat up a little straighter. "Okay," his mother said. "I'll...I'll be right there."
Rafe was sure Doctor Rick was still talking but Natalia had already hung up and made a dash for the coat rack. "Hey, what's going on ma?" he said, following her.
"You need to look after Em for a while, okay?" she said, ignoring his question.
"Ma!" he repeated. "What is it?"
She turned to him, a mix of worry and hope swimming in her eyes. "She's awake!"
TBC...