GL - A FEW DAYS AWAY - Chapter 22
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)
Thank you for your continued interest, I know there is a lot of very good fic out there so I'm touched when you stop by to read mine. You've all been very kind - huge thanks
DISCLAIMERS: I do not own Guiding Light or any of the characters.
( Chapter 1 ) ( Chapter 3 ) ( Chapters 4 & 5 ) ( Chapter 6 ) ( Chapter 7 ) ( Chapter 8 ) ( Chapter 9 ) ( Chapter 10 ) ( Chapter 11 ) ( Chapter 12 ) ( Chapter 13 ) ( Chapter 14 ) ( Chapter 15 ) ( Chapter 16 ) ( Chapter 17 ) ( Chapter 18 ) ( Chapter 19 ) ( Chapter 20 ) ( Chapter 21 )
Chapter 22
“Hello, Ruth?”
“Yes, hello. Is that Natalia?”
“Yeah, hi.”
“How are you my dear and how is Olivia this morning? Better?”
“Much, thank you,” if you didn’t count all the weirdness earlier. “How’s Emma? Ready to come home yet?”
“Oh my lord, the pair of them. I’m not sure they slept at all last night, giggling all the time. I can’t thank you enough for allowing her to stay over.”
“It’s us who are grateful, really, thank you.” Natalia looked up as Olivia entered the kitchen. “Is Emma there?”
“Yes, she is. Let me just call her.”
As Natalia waited with her hand over the mouthpiece, Olivia asked, “Is she okay?”
Natalia nodded, “Just gone to get her, do you want to speak to her?” She started to hand the phone over to her.
“I’ll wait, you carry on.”
A voice sounded near her chin and she raised the phone back to her ear again, “Mommy?”
“No honey, it’s Natalia. Mommy’s here though. Are you okay? Would you like to speak to her?”
“I’ve had a great time. We made a tent in the woods with this blanket and it was just like a secret hideout and then last night, we couldn’t stop laughing although I’m not really sure what we laughing at but it was really fun and did you know that Jane’s gran is from England? She has so many stories and then today, today when we got up there was a mountain of food for breakfast and I didn’t think I’d be able to move...”
“Hey, slow down. You’ll give yourself hiccups.”
Emma giggled.
“Let me pass you over to your mom, she’s waiting. Hang on.” She passed the phone to Olivia.
“Hey Jellybean, what’s up?”
“Hi Mommy, we’ve done so much! I’ve got so much to tell you. Did you know...”
Natalia watched as Olivia listened, occasionally getting the odd yes into the conversation and obligatory ‘uh hmm’. At one point, Olivia looked up and rolled her eyes at her suddenly verbose daughter and Natalia sniggered in response.
Finally cutting in Olivia said, “Honey, it sounds like you’re having a wonderful time, why don’t you tell us all about it when we see you?”
There was a silence on the end of the line.
“Emma? What’s wrong?”
“Um,” Olivia sensed her daughter’s hesitation. Natalia looked at her questioningly.
“Um, I was hoping...Jane and I were going to have a tea party this afternoon and...well...can I stay a bit longer mommy? Please?”
Fingers pinching the bridge of her nose, Olivia understood Emma’s desire to stay and play with her new friend but she was concerned about overstepping Ruth’s hospitality and truthfully, she really wanted to hold her daughter again.
“I don’t know Emma, let me speak to Ruth, is she still there?”
“Yes, she’s here. Please mommy?”
Olivia heard the sound of the phone being passed over and mouthed to the still waiting Natalia, ‘she wants to stay longer’.
“Hello? Olivia?”
“Hi Ruth.”
“I understand you’re better dear, are you?”
“I’m on the mend thank you. Did you hear my daughter?”
“Couldn’t help not I’m afraid, Jane’s stood here looking at me pleadingly, in fact the pair of them are pulling the most adorable puppy dog faces you’ve ever seen.”
Olivia chuckled at the image.
“I don’t want to...”
“It’s really not a problem...”
They both started together. Ruth continued, “Really, if you have no other plans, I’m more than happy to have Emma here.”
“You really are very kind. Either that or I see that Emma has woven her magic spell over yet another unsuspecting victim.”
“Not at all, she really is a pleasure. Did you want to arrange a later time to collect her or I can drop her back?”
Having worked out that, for the moment Emma was going to stay; shrieks and squeals could be heard over the phone as the two girls began excitedly chattering and planning their afternoon.
“I take it that was a popular decision,” Olivia winced as she drew the phone back from her ear, even Natalia had heard.
“You think?” Ruth responded wryly.
“We’ll collect her later on then in time for supper; I don’t want to put you out anymore than we already have.”
“Not at all, not at all. We’ll see you then. Have a pleasant day and look after yourselves.”
“Thank you again, we’ll see you later. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Olivia looked at the phone in her hands.
“Hey, you okay?”
“Hmm...Yeah. I just miss her.”
“Me too.” Natalia stepped forward, took the phone from her and then took her hand. “Come on, let’s dry your hair and decide what we want to do today.”
***
Feeling somewhat human again by virtue of having clean hair, fortified with her last cup of coffee and having finally taken her heart medication, Olivia suggested, “What about a hike in the woods?”
“Huh?”
“What?”
“You really feel up for that?”
“Well, not a hike, hike but a walk, you know, some good ol’ fresh country air, do me a world of good. What do you say?”
“I say have you got a fever again because that’s starting to sound like crazy talk.”
Now it was Olivia’s turn, “Huh?”
“You’re serious aren’t you?”
“Um, actually yes, I am but if you don’t want to then...”
“No, no, that’s fine. I’m good, we can go...walk in the woods.”
Sensing more than a hint of hesitation at her idea, Olivia tried to puzzle out what was wrong and waited for Natalia to fill the silence at her unspoken question.
“It’s just that I’m not that ‘outdoorsy’, being from Chicago you know, big city and all that.”
Olivia laughed but stopped when she saw the hurt face before her.
“If it really bothers you we won’t go but it’s not like we’re hiking out into the back of beyond, just taking a walk through the woods.”
“What about bugs?” Natalia asked.
“Um...comes with the territory? Besides, it’s not the bugs you have to worry about, it’s the wildlife.” Olivia waggled her eyebrows and then realising that joking about this was not going to help her case as she witnessed the widening of Natalia’s eyes, Olivia reasoned, “Look, we’ll be fine. We don’t have to go too far and it’ll get us out of this cabin for a bit.”
Natalia twisted her mouth in consideration. Sensing she might be persuading her, Olivia added, “Hey, I’ll protect you.”
Somehow, that did the trick.
***
Twenty minutes later, dressed for a walk in the woods and with a bag packed with water bottles, some sandwiches prepared by Natalia and a host of snacks thrown in by Olivia ‘just in case’, the pair set off away from the cabin into the surrounding woodland.
Natalia had been hesitant for a lot of reasons, she really wasn’t a fan of the big outdoors but Olivia seemed to want to do this and after all she’d been through, this was her vacation after all. It didn’t stop Natalia from being concerned that the older woman may be pushing herself though and truthfully, she wasn’t wholly convinced her health had improved enough for this to be a good idea.
Nevertheless, Olivia seemed to be buoyed with a boundless energy since they’d left the cabin and seeing her in such good spirits was infectious. Maybe this walk in the woods thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.
***
Olivia was grateful to be away from the confines of the cabin and out into the open air again as she was beginning to associate the cabin walls with the tethers in her dream and desperately wanted to escape their suffocating hold.
Inhaling the combined wooded scent of earth and purer air, Olivia could not stop the bounce in her step.
“You’re really enjoying this aren’t you?”
“Hmm? Yeah, I used to love walking around the island when I was a little girl. Seeing Emma take such an interest in the natural world like she does reminds me so much of me at that age.”
They were taking it easy, a casual pace of steady steps and following a natural path through the woods. Overhead, sunlight was breaking through the canopy of trees and casting beams of light around them and other than the sound of leaves rustling as birds took flight or wildlife foraged, it was silent.
“I bet you were a tomboy when you were younger.”
“Heh, yeah, I guess.”
Olivia could feel her mind slipping back to when she was younger, playing with her brother and sister and then inevitably, she thought of her mother. Shaking her head and keeping her eyes on the path ahead she asked, “What about you?”
“Me? Oh I was a good little girl spending hours with her dollies having tea parties and playing with bake sets, you know the usual.”
Olivia chuckled, “Really? Never would’ve guessed.”
Natalia joined in, “Yeah, hard to believe I know. We didn’t have much but my mom made sure I had a dolly. I called her Jessica and she went everywhere with me.”
“I bet you still have her don’t you?”
A sad looked crossed Natalia’s face, “No, I don’t know what happened to her. After a while I think she used to just sit in my room and then, then there was Rafe to consider so...” she trailed off.
“When was the last time you spoke to him?”
“Before we left. He knew I was going to be away for a bit, in fact I think he wanted me to go more than I did, not that I didn’t want to, this was my idea after all, just that...”
“He’s a man now and having his mother show up every five minutes doesn’t give the right impression eh?”
“Yeah, something like that, yeah.”
“Well, as much as I know you miss him, hopefully this will give him some perspective and he’ll appreciate you even more, absence making the heart grow fonder and all that.”
“Maybe, I just want him home.”
“Come on, let’s head over that way.” Olivia keen to maintain the high spirits of earlier, indicated a tiny glade amidst the trees.
“Are you ready to stop for a bit?” Natalia looked at her watch surprised to find they’d been walking for just over an hour. “Are you hungry yet?”
Olivia smiled, “We’ve got some snacks don’t we?”
“Not snacks, some food.” Rolling her eyes again at Olivia’s one track snack mind. “And no pouting or the answer’s definitely no.”
Together they headed for the glade.
TBC...