GL - A FEW DAYS MORE - Chapter 5
TITLE: A Few Days More
FANDOM: Guiding Light
PAIRING: Otalia
SUMMARY: Set mid-friendship, this will contain elements of hurt/comfort as I'm a hurt/comfort junkie. Olivia, Natalia and Emma have returned from their few days away and follows canon around the 'Decker days'...hopefully more interesting than the summary suggests. Please request before archiving.
RATING: PG for now
AUTHOR's NOTE: This is my second attempt at fanfic and I have to say I am more nervous with this one than the first, partly because I fear there could be a level of expectation to overcome. So please be gentle with me, I hope you enjoy the formula I have decided to go with this time because personally, I think the best Otalia story and in particular ‘hurt/comfort’ story was the one shown on TV. As always my thanks to my Canadian Buddy, Critic2000, who read this through and offered useful suggestions and insight, let alone put up with my endless angst and anguish as to whether this story would be worth posting, bless ‘er.
An additional thanks to those of you who have actively encouraged me to right this sequel and offered your support, it truly is an inspiration
ADDITIONAL NOTE: This does loosely follow on from my first story 'A Few Days Away' hence I have said it is a sequel but as I never fully intended to write this, it’s been an interesting experience to find a way to make it fit within the time period I wanted to cover, therefore please gloss over any inconsistencies from one story to the next. It is not essential to have read the first story, but some things may make more sense if you do.
Providing the ash doesn't stop me, this will most likely be my penultimate if not ultimate post before I go on hols... sorry
DISCLAIMERS: I do not own Guiding Light or any of the characters.
( Chapter 1 ) ( Chapter 2 ) ( Chapter 3 ) ( Chapter 4 )
Chapter 5
Olivia clicked her phone shut and returned it to her bag. A small part of her was surprised Natalia was still awake but for the most part, she really had little doubt of her availability. The perverse side of her idly wondered if she had phoned at some ridiculous hour in the morning would the younger woman have so readily come running and without hesitation she knew the answer was yes, she would.
Not that she had waited for an answer to confirm Natalia was coming now.
Concerned she was baiting Natalia into the lion’s den and reaching the limits of her stamina, Olivia hoped her message had conveyed all necessary meaning without alerting Decker to a possible alternative outcome to the one he was planning.
“She’s on her way.”
“Excellent, I’ll get another round of drinks in.”
Decker signalled the bartender again and Olivia resisted the urge to drop her head onto the table.
***
From the moment her phone rang Natalia’s heart rate increased. True, she had been expecting a call but as the hours passed by her confidence waned and she was beginning to feel as foolish as she had in the elevator earlier when she failed to communicate on any meaningful level with Olivia beyond work.
Now she had taken the call, the underlying feeling gnawing at her all evening blossomed upon hearing Olivia’s voice say those three words, “I need you.”
When the line went dead before she had a chance to respond, she had literally stopped in her tracks to stare at her cell for all of three seconds, at once vindicated and yet strangely on edge.
With such a short message Natalia had little opportunity to gauge any clues from Olivia’s voice as to what state she was in but the choice of words spoke volumes to her. Olivia needed help.
Wasting no more time she entered Towers and looked around the bar.
***
Waiting seemed an interminably long time when your drinking companion moved on to financial topics, another area in which Decker could enthuse. Maintaining interest while her brain pushed at the back of her eyeballs, Olivia took another sip of her drink and wished for the nth time it was water.
“Good evening Mr Decker, Olivia.”
Just hearing her voice released enough tension in Olivia’s body she feared she would physically fold and slump like a puppet with its strings cut.
Natalia stood at their table surreptitiously counting the number of empty glasses and calculating how many had already been taken away.
“Natalia, so glad you could make it. Here,” he pointed at the untouched glass of alcohol positioned before an empty seat.
“Oh.” Natalia genuinely taken aback glanced at Olivia and read ‘get me out of here’ in her glazed eyes. “Well, that’s very kind of you however it was fortuitous you called Olivia,” she turned to face her boss, “You wanted me to remind you about that call to Dubai?”
The glazed look turned to one of confusion, the alcohol addling her brain, “Dubai?”
Decker watched them intently.
Raising her brows to emphasise her words Natalia tried again, “Yes, Dubai. You had a meeting arranged with Mr Morio at the Burj-Al-Arab?”
This time Olivia’s eyes widened and finally caught a clue.
“Everything alright Olivia? Something I should know about?” Decker’s curiosity peaked at hearing the name of the general manager of the famous hotel.
“What? Oh no, no we just met at a seminar and with the time differences and our schedules...”
He nodded understandingly and Olivia hoped the evening’s alcohol would be a deficit to Decker’s capacity to think and prevent any further questioning. Conversely she dreaded the impact it would have on her ability to stand and concentrated on getting her legs under her knowing the next momentous task would be actually keeping upright.
“Well surely you both don’t have to leave?”
Damn it! The women looked at each other, this time Natalia flashing a ‘get me out of here’ look.
“Ah ah ah Larry,” Olivia wagged a finger at him, “No can do. Miss Rivera has other duties to attend to.” Like getting me outta here before I fall on my face.
After staring at them with a look of puzzlement and deciding he couldn’t figure it out he chuckled and looked at his watch, “Well I guess it is getting pretty late.” He poured the remains of his glass down his throat and stood with them. “Olivia, it’s been a wonderful evening. Natalia, I’ll be in touch to confirm the details for that conference call.” He winked at them both and left the bar.
“Was that some Jedi mind trick? You should teach me that.” Natalia watched amazed at Decker’s departing back.
“If I could, I would’ve used it earlier.”
Instantly, the moment he disappeared from view, Natalia felt the weight of Olivia leaning on her, “Please, get me out of here.”
“Olivia?”
Natalia had noted Olivia’s flushed skin when she approached the table, clearly the amount of alcohol consumed contributing to the overly ‘healthy’ glow, now though it appeared sallow and pale, her eyes heavy and bruised.
“I’m not sure I can make it.”
“Yes you can. Here.” Natalia put her arm around Olivia’s waist and felt Olivia’s arm settle around her shoulders.
“Dubai eh? What made you think of that?”
“Time difference and an article I was reading earlier today.”
They made their way steadily through the bar.
“Well it was a gamble. People like Lawrence Decker know all the important bigwig names.”
“Do you think he’ll check?” Natalia worried her off the cuff ruse would cause more aggravation than help.
“At the moment I don’t really care but I don’t think so.”
They paused as they reached outside and Olivia winced suddenly, raising her hand to her brow line.
“Olivia? What is it?”
“Nothing, I’m fine.”
“You are so obviously not fine.”
Silence.
“Just a headache.”
“The same one?”
Was Natalia annoyed at her?
“Could you keep your voice down?” Olivia leant back against the wall, her hand gesturing to lower the volume.
“How much did you have to drink anyway?”
Keeping her eyes closed to avoid the berating look she knew she would find in the younger woman’s dark eyes she conceded, “Too much.”
There was a moment of silence as Natalia was obviously studying her, “Have you actually eaten anything today?”
“I had something at the fundraiser.”
“Something? What exactly?”
Feeling like she was being treated like a child but too tired to put up much of a protest she shrugged, “I don’t know...”
“Olivia it was a buffet event, you had to go and choose something? Did you?”
“Yes, maybe, I don’t know!” Her head was really starting to pound.
Frustrated, Natalia voiced her thoughts, “What is it with you that you continually ignore when there is something wrong with your health?” She was struggling to keep her voice down in deference to Olivia’s request, “My God Olivia, your heart...”
Green eyes flashed at her, “And why does it always come back to my heart Natalia huh?”
Natalia couldn’t help it, she was upset and when she was upset, she cried. She sat outside of Company on the stairway leading up to her boarding room, waiting for Buzz and considering the events of the day. Earlier, Frank had bugged her about taking her shift so she could have some time to herself so when she received a call from Olivia and something about the way the woman sounded raised little alarm bells ringing, Natalia took Frank up on his offer and made a beeline to the Beacon.
When she arrived she was perplexed as Maria, the head housekeeper, had not requested her and part of her wondered if this was another of Olivia’s silly, petty little games. Deciding to confront Olivia about it she headed to the hotel owner’s suite and thumped on the door.
She began to get nervous as she waited and when the door finally flew open and she stepped inside her nervousness turned to curiosity. Clothes were strewn around the room and very little was in the case laying open on the bed.
Her boss hadn’t turned to look at her once, fixated on a turquoise shirt she was holding and Natalia was surprised when Olivia finally, in her haltingly expressive way, got to the point and asked her for help.
She knew it pained her to ask.
Watching her as Olivia listed all the things she knew she still had to do and then voicing her request in a method designed to guilt her, Natalia felt pity. The woman was obviously at the end of her rope, clearly unwell and yet obstinate in her refusal to give up.
Natalia agreed to help, her heart warming when Olivia finally raised her eyes to look at her, most likely shocked Natalia had actually said yes.
What followed was a nerve-wracking yet exhilarating experience as Olivia put all her trust in her and between them they managed to convince Decker to change his, and consequently Olivia’s, plans. This then afforded Natalia the time to force Olivia to carry out her side of the agreement, to go to the hospital and get checked out.
Hence the reason she was sitting here now.
‘Chronic rejection,’ Rick had said, ‘back on the heart transplant list’.
As her own fear magnified she watched as Olivia closed down and practically dismissed her.
She was still contemplating and drying her eyes when the object of her contemplation strode round the corner. Leaping to her feet she couldn’t hold back the incredulousness in her voice as she questioned, “What are you doing?”
“Getting takeout,” Olivia’s demeanor was grim.
“You're supposed to be checking into the hospital!”
“I'm supposed to be making arrangements for myself and my family, okay? So I'm going to get some food.”
Natalia sighed heavily, unbelieving of this woman and her inability to accept she needed to deal with this.
“I don't know how long I'm going to be in there.” Natalia listened as Olivia’s voice expressed her concerns and then changed to one of confusion and disbelief as she tried to make sense of her situation, “I just crossed the street, and I'm alright.”
She could feel her tears welling again.
“My God, why are you crying? Why are you crying?”
Natalia hadn’t realized she was, “I'm not. I'm fine.”
“You are fine.”
“Yeah.”
Olivia sounded angry now, “So those are tears for Rafe, because I don't want pity. I don't need your pity.”
“You know, it was upsetting news.”
“I told you not to go. Okay, it was nice of you to take me over there and stick with me, but I didn't ask you to do it, alright? I don't need someone to take notes or be strong for me and like Rick said, we knew this could happen.”
“No, I didn't know that this could happen, okay? The thought of... another transplant?” Knowing how much it had cost Olivia before, Natalia feared for her ability to survive another recuperation period, let alone an operation.
Olivia pulled her mouth back into a toothless smile, “I knew it.”
Natalia was confused, why was it when they were together they always argued? She huffed out a sigh, her earlier tears and sympathy retreating behind her rising ire. She couldn’t resist poking back as they faced off against each other, “What?”
Olivia leaned forward into Natalia’s face, “This isn't about me. You're crying over Gus' heart,” and with that accusation she walked away.
Openmouthed and dumbfounded, Natalia stared at Olivia’s back before following her into Company. She noticed Olivia hoisting herself with some difficulty onto one of the barstools and then listened, her anger growing as Olivia continued, “I'm just the freezer keeping your husband's heart on ice.”
She heard the catch as Olivia drew breath mid-sentence, the stumble as her strength momentarily gave way and Natalia knew she needed to put an end to this, “Oh, no, stop it.”
But Olivia would not be stopped and continued her tirade, “Don't you think his heart means a little more to me than it does to you? After all, it's the only thing keeping me alive right now, though it's not doing a very good job.”
Natalia was worried. Where she preferred the simplicity of a few tears to express her frustrations, Olivia was clearly working herself up and using anger. She had to get her to calm down, “Alright, Olivia...”
On a roll, Olivia bulldozed over her, “But that's my fault, too, isn't it? That's my fault, because I haven't taken very good care of myself. I haven't taken very good... and I didn't appreciate it when you offered it to me. When did you decide that I was good enough for it, Natalia?”
She had heard enough and Olivia’s face was alarmingly red now, “Oh, will you please stop?”
“You stop it! Because you don't give a damn about me.”
Natalia watched, intuitively realizing Olivia needed to say this, needed to vent but hurt nonetheless by the accusations she made; Natalia did care.
“Staying over there at that hospital, that was all about you. ‘Dr. Rick, what's the verdict on the heart?’” she mimicked, “I bet you would rather me risk my life then to get a new heart, because it was never really mine to begin with, was it?”
“That's not true...”
Olivia was struggling to draw breath now but incapable of stopping. She was hurt, Natalia understood that and Olivia’s natural response was to attack, “But I can't really blame you for that, because you know what? Your dead husband's heart is all you've got, Natalia, because your poor, fugitive son is off in jail somewhere for who knows how long.” Olivia was gesticulating wildly now, her voice wavering and juddering on the verge of crying as she forced out the last of her verbal assault, “And all you can do is find something new to obsess over to pass the time.”
Out of steam at last, Olivia put her hand over her mouth and was unable to stop the tears that finally came.
“Was it worth it? Making yourself sicker, so you could tell me off?” Natalia kept her voice even, “And you're absolutely right. Why on earth would I care about you?” She almost couldn’t bear to look at the woman she had worried over for the last several hours. “Why would anyone, when you treat people the way you do?” Natalia truly didn’t understand it.
She watched as Olivia regained her composure and held her gaze before stepping down from the barstool, grabbing her bag and walking passed her without another word.
Natalia wanted to say more, how it hadn’t been about Gus for a long time but she just stood there, devastated and feeling such compassion for the woman yet unable to express it, it was like trying to hug a hedgehog.
Knowing it wouldn’t serve either of them to persist with that line of thinking Natalia closed her mouth to whatever she was about to say and changed tack. Angry but nevertheless bothered at seeing Olivia in such distress, Natalia soothed her tone, “Are you ready to get going again or do you need a few more minutes?” She looked away for a moment to scan their surroundings, “Decker might come back.”
Annoyed with herself for attacking the one person who was helping her Olivia gave an almost imperceptible nod of her head and pushed away from the wall. Whimpering, she fell back.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Natalia’s arm instinctively reached up to steady her and rubbed Olivia’s arm in comfort.
“My eyes... dizzy.”
Unsure if that was the drink, her headache or a lethal combination of both Natalia probed further, “Okay, what about your eyes? Is it your vision?”
Eyelids carefully cracked open and then slammed shut.
She nodded slightly, “Blurry, wiggly lines.”
Natalia frowned, “How long has this been going on?”
“Since the fundraiser... got worse later.” Olivia was pressing the palms of her hands against her brow line as if to push her brain back inside her head. “The wiggly lines are new, thought the blurriness was the alcohol.”
Since the fundraiser? This was getting silly, how could the woman have persisted through the evening feeling the way she obviously did and... reining in her exasperation at the maddeningly infuriating woman pathetically propped against the wall beside her, Natalia couldn’t shake the alarm bells that started ringing, “Do you feel like you want to be sick at all?”
Green eyes flashed at her, no doubt remembering her recent sickness at the cabin. “A little bit, yeah.” She drew in a shuddering breath.
“Olivia, I think you might have a migraine. Have you ever had one before?”
“I... I think so. Not as bad as this though.” She could actually feel her brain pulsing now and pushing at her eyeballs again; her stomach lurched.
Empathising with the abject misery radiating off the woman before her, Natalia took her arm and levered her away from the wall. Keeping her voice soft and quiet she coaxed, “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
***
Somehow they made it back to the Beacon; every step to the car a clap of thunder resonating through her skull. When they pulled up to the hotel Natalia spoke briefly to her to see if she wanted to take the service elevators, a tempting suggestion but Olivia’s pride refused to allow her to skulk through her own hotel, especially as to the casual observer she looked like the victim of a great night out on the town.
Crossing the foyer had its own challenges however.
“Miss Spencer!”
Both women stopped and turned back to see the night manager, Jessica, standing behind the reception desk beckoning them to her.
“Yes?” her voice, a husky imitation of her usual commanding tone, still managed to convey in one word a layer of irritation.
Working in the hotel industry allowed you to become familiar with all walks of life and Jessica considered herself an astute observer of human nature, it was one of the reasons she felt she had been promoted to this role. Watching as her employer changed direction and headed towards her, her skills were warning this probably wasn’t the best time to be flagging her down; a fact backed up when she reached her. She noticed how her often mercurial boss had a white-knuckle grip on the desk and how Natalia was standing very closely by her side, trying to look like she wasn’t watching over Olivia like a hawk. Although she knew Olivia had some health issues in the past, the faint odour of alcohol drew her to a false conclusion and having made that assumption she discarded and filed it under ‘none of her business’, another reason she was promoted she was sure.
“Sorry Miss Spencer, I thought you’d like to know we had a little trouble in room 204.”
“Trouble? What kind of trouble?” her brain pulsed.
“The ‘we had to call security’ trouble.”
“Is everyone okay? Was anyone hurt?” Trust Natalia to ask the important questions, I was wondering about damage to the room.
Jessica shook her head, “No thankfully. I’ve put an incident report through to you but I know how you don’t like surprises and as I saw you I thought I’d give you the heads up.”
“Okay, thanks Jessica.”
“No problem, goodnight,” she smiled at them both.
Olivia smiled faintly at her and gathered the courage to let go of the desk, reassured by Natalia’s presence impossibly close beside her.
Finally making it inside the elevator Olivia groaned.
“Hey, we’re nearly there. You going to make it?”
“Uh huh,” Olivia wanted to turn everything off, everything. She sucked in a breath.
Exiting the elevator, the corridor lighting was too bright for Olivia’s sensitive eyes, so with her eyelids squinted almost shut and her left hand permanently affixed to shade her brow, Natalia guided her to her suite and left her sagged against the doorframe as she worked the key card to open the door.
Leaving the main light off, Natalia steered Olivia to the bed and then went to the opposing bedside lamp to switch it on, dimming it to a more tolerable level.
Olivia had lain down on the bed, her right arm across her eyes while her left hand clenched by her side, her whole body taut with tension as she tried to fight against the pain in her skull.
“Here, take this.” Natalia handed her a glass with what looked like cloudy water, she hadn’t even heard her moving around the room, the pulsing in her head was so loud. Sensing some hesitation Natalia clarified, “They’re soluble, hopefully they’ll work faster.”
Raising her head to take a sip the walls wavered and she clenched her jaw tight in response.
“What is it? Are you going to be sick?”
Keeping her jaw clenched and using the smallest of movements to shake her head she fought down the nausea and really wished Natalia would stop talking about being sick.
She could feel her shoes being removed, an act she normally would have done as soon as she entered the room but her feet only cared the shoes were gone and almost sighed from their release. Then Natalia’s hand was at her shoulder, a gentle persuasive voice in her ear, “Olivia, can you sit up for me?”
She wasn’t sure she could but the faint tugging at her arm implied Natalia wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Keeping her eyes firmly closed she sat up.
Her level of awareness was such it took a moment for her to realise she was now leaning against Natalia and the younger woman was holding her in a loose embrace to reach behind her to unzip her dress, an act which earlier inspired pleasant tingles but now, to her distorted hearing, droned like a chainsaw.
Natalia pulled away slightly and peeled Olivia’s dress from her shoulders. “Let me get you out of this dress, you’ll be comfier,” a voice sounded very close to her ear. With her current migraine status by rights it should have sounded like a bullhorn but it didn’t, it sounded angelic, safe.
Not wanting to give up her comfy spot she whimpered again as Natalia pulled further away but then she felt a hand close over her arm and assist her in removing it from the sleeve. The act was repeated for her other arm and she could feel the coolness of the air against her chest as her dress gaped forward.
“Okay, lie back.”
She was gently lowered back to the pillow.
“I just need you to lift up for me,” came the instruction and Olivia raised her butt from the mattress to allow Natalia to slip the dress down, over the swell of her hips until her legs were lifted and the dress completely removed.
She could feel skin against her skin as fingers grazed her sides.
“What are you doing?” she whispered, even that hurt.
“Shh... relax Olivia, just relax.”
Then she realised Natalia was removing her hose, peeling them away like another layer of skin, the cool air baptising her limbs’ freedom.
Blankets covered her.
How many times was Natalia going to do this for her? How many times had she done it already?
Her mind was whirling and she couldn’t stop the pain. Squirming, she tried to find a comfortable position to lie in.
“Hey,” a cool hand was brushing over her brow, “Olivia.”
Olivia opened her eyes enough to see Natalia crouched down beside the bed, one hand holding one of her facecloths.
“Here, this should help.” The facecloth was cold as Natalia folded it and laid it across her forehead. For a moment her pain spiked and then receded to a dull ache. “If you can, you should drink this.”
Earlier all she had wanted was a glass of water, now she doubted her ability to be able sit up and drink it.
“Help me up?” she rasped.
“Sure. Ready?”
Olivia nodded and Natalia moved in behind her to act as a living backrest, she was surprised but pathetically grateful. Waiting for her equilibrium to even out before opening her eyes again, she sipped at the glass before her. Natalia then moved the glass to the nightstand and with one arm wrapped around her in an embrace, raised her other to hold the cooling compress against her skull.
“Better?”
It was crazy, here she was after one of the longest days she could remember having drunk too much, eaten too little and suffering the effects of a migraine, it was the best she had felt all day.
“Much,” she murmured then promptly passed out.
To be continued...
Flashback scene from episode: 13th Oct 2008 viewable either here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLIFbFRY7Xk or if you prefer HD - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kec8vPZsOwA with thanks to Otaliafan and Solari111 for the clips
FANDOM: Guiding Light
PAIRING: Otalia
SUMMARY: Set mid-friendship, this will contain elements of hurt/comfort as I'm a hurt/comfort junkie. Olivia, Natalia and Emma have returned from their few days away and follows canon around the 'Decker days'...hopefully more interesting than the summary suggests. Please request before archiving.
RATING: PG for now
AUTHOR's NOTE: This is my second attempt at fanfic and I have to say I am more nervous with this one than the first, partly because I fear there could be a level of expectation to overcome. So please be gentle with me, I hope you enjoy the formula I have decided to go with this time because personally, I think the best Otalia story and in particular ‘hurt/comfort’ story was the one shown on TV. As always my thanks to my Canadian Buddy, Critic2000, who read this through and offered useful suggestions and insight, let alone put up with my endless angst and anguish as to whether this story would be worth posting, bless ‘er.
An additional thanks to those of you who have actively encouraged me to right this sequel and offered your support, it truly is an inspiration
ADDITIONAL NOTE: This does loosely follow on from my first story 'A Few Days Away' hence I have said it is a sequel but as I never fully intended to write this, it’s been an interesting experience to find a way to make it fit within the time period I wanted to cover, therefore please gloss over any inconsistencies from one story to the next. It is not essential to have read the first story, but some things may make more sense if you do.
Providing the ash doesn't stop me, this will most likely be my penultimate if not ultimate post before I go on hols... sorry
DISCLAIMERS: I do not own Guiding Light or any of the characters.
( Chapter 1 ) ( Chapter 2 ) ( Chapter 3 ) ( Chapter 4 )
Chapter 5
Olivia clicked her phone shut and returned it to her bag. A small part of her was surprised Natalia was still awake but for the most part, she really had little doubt of her availability. The perverse side of her idly wondered if she had phoned at some ridiculous hour in the morning would the younger woman have so readily come running and without hesitation she knew the answer was yes, she would.
Not that she had waited for an answer to confirm Natalia was coming now.
Concerned she was baiting Natalia into the lion’s den and reaching the limits of her stamina, Olivia hoped her message had conveyed all necessary meaning without alerting Decker to a possible alternative outcome to the one he was planning.
“She’s on her way.”
“Excellent, I’ll get another round of drinks in.”
Decker signalled the bartender again and Olivia resisted the urge to drop her head onto the table.
***
From the moment her phone rang Natalia’s heart rate increased. True, she had been expecting a call but as the hours passed by her confidence waned and she was beginning to feel as foolish as she had in the elevator earlier when she failed to communicate on any meaningful level with Olivia beyond work.
Now she had taken the call, the underlying feeling gnawing at her all evening blossomed upon hearing Olivia’s voice say those three words, “I need you.”
When the line went dead before she had a chance to respond, she had literally stopped in her tracks to stare at her cell for all of three seconds, at once vindicated and yet strangely on edge.
With such a short message Natalia had little opportunity to gauge any clues from Olivia’s voice as to what state she was in but the choice of words spoke volumes to her. Olivia needed help.
Wasting no more time she entered Towers and looked around the bar.
***
Waiting seemed an interminably long time when your drinking companion moved on to financial topics, another area in which Decker could enthuse. Maintaining interest while her brain pushed at the back of her eyeballs, Olivia took another sip of her drink and wished for the nth time it was water.
“Good evening Mr Decker, Olivia.”
Just hearing her voice released enough tension in Olivia’s body she feared she would physically fold and slump like a puppet with its strings cut.
Natalia stood at their table surreptitiously counting the number of empty glasses and calculating how many had already been taken away.
“Natalia, so glad you could make it. Here,” he pointed at the untouched glass of alcohol positioned before an empty seat.
“Oh.” Natalia genuinely taken aback glanced at Olivia and read ‘get me out of here’ in her glazed eyes. “Well, that’s very kind of you however it was fortuitous you called Olivia,” she turned to face her boss, “You wanted me to remind you about that call to Dubai?”
The glazed look turned to one of confusion, the alcohol addling her brain, “Dubai?”
Decker watched them intently.
Raising her brows to emphasise her words Natalia tried again, “Yes, Dubai. You had a meeting arranged with Mr Morio at the Burj-Al-Arab?”
This time Olivia’s eyes widened and finally caught a clue.
“Everything alright Olivia? Something I should know about?” Decker’s curiosity peaked at hearing the name of the general manager of the famous hotel.
“What? Oh no, no we just met at a seminar and with the time differences and our schedules...”
He nodded understandingly and Olivia hoped the evening’s alcohol would be a deficit to Decker’s capacity to think and prevent any further questioning. Conversely she dreaded the impact it would have on her ability to stand and concentrated on getting her legs under her knowing the next momentous task would be actually keeping upright.
“Well surely you both don’t have to leave?”
Damn it! The women looked at each other, this time Natalia flashing a ‘get me out of here’ look.
“Ah ah ah Larry,” Olivia wagged a finger at him, “No can do. Miss Rivera has other duties to attend to.” Like getting me outta here before I fall on my face.
After staring at them with a look of puzzlement and deciding he couldn’t figure it out he chuckled and looked at his watch, “Well I guess it is getting pretty late.” He poured the remains of his glass down his throat and stood with them. “Olivia, it’s been a wonderful evening. Natalia, I’ll be in touch to confirm the details for that conference call.” He winked at them both and left the bar.
“Was that some Jedi mind trick? You should teach me that.” Natalia watched amazed at Decker’s departing back.
“If I could, I would’ve used it earlier.”
Instantly, the moment he disappeared from view, Natalia felt the weight of Olivia leaning on her, “Please, get me out of here.”
“Olivia?”
Natalia had noted Olivia’s flushed skin when she approached the table, clearly the amount of alcohol consumed contributing to the overly ‘healthy’ glow, now though it appeared sallow and pale, her eyes heavy and bruised.
“I’m not sure I can make it.”
“Yes you can. Here.” Natalia put her arm around Olivia’s waist and felt Olivia’s arm settle around her shoulders.
“Dubai eh? What made you think of that?”
“Time difference and an article I was reading earlier today.”
They made their way steadily through the bar.
“Well it was a gamble. People like Lawrence Decker know all the important bigwig names.”
“Do you think he’ll check?” Natalia worried her off the cuff ruse would cause more aggravation than help.
“At the moment I don’t really care but I don’t think so.”
They paused as they reached outside and Olivia winced suddenly, raising her hand to her brow line.
“Olivia? What is it?”
“Nothing, I’m fine.”
“You are so obviously not fine.”
Silence.
“Just a headache.”
“The same one?”
Was Natalia annoyed at her?
“Could you keep your voice down?” Olivia leant back against the wall, her hand gesturing to lower the volume.
“How much did you have to drink anyway?”
Keeping her eyes closed to avoid the berating look she knew she would find in the younger woman’s dark eyes she conceded, “Too much.”
There was a moment of silence as Natalia was obviously studying her, “Have you actually eaten anything today?”
“I had something at the fundraiser.”
“Something? What exactly?”
Feeling like she was being treated like a child but too tired to put up much of a protest she shrugged, “I don’t know...”
“Olivia it was a buffet event, you had to go and choose something? Did you?”
“Yes, maybe, I don’t know!” Her head was really starting to pound.
Frustrated, Natalia voiced her thoughts, “What is it with you that you continually ignore when there is something wrong with your health?” She was struggling to keep her voice down in deference to Olivia’s request, “My God Olivia, your heart...”
Green eyes flashed at her, “And why does it always come back to my heart Natalia huh?”
Natalia couldn’t help it, she was upset and when she was upset, she cried. She sat outside of Company on the stairway leading up to her boarding room, waiting for Buzz and considering the events of the day. Earlier, Frank had bugged her about taking her shift so she could have some time to herself so when she received a call from Olivia and something about the way the woman sounded raised little alarm bells ringing, Natalia took Frank up on his offer and made a beeline to the Beacon.
When she arrived she was perplexed as Maria, the head housekeeper, had not requested her and part of her wondered if this was another of Olivia’s silly, petty little games. Deciding to confront Olivia about it she headed to the hotel owner’s suite and thumped on the door.
She began to get nervous as she waited and when the door finally flew open and she stepped inside her nervousness turned to curiosity. Clothes were strewn around the room and very little was in the case laying open on the bed.
Her boss hadn’t turned to look at her once, fixated on a turquoise shirt she was holding and Natalia was surprised when Olivia finally, in her haltingly expressive way, got to the point and asked her for help.
She knew it pained her to ask.
Watching her as Olivia listed all the things she knew she still had to do and then voicing her request in a method designed to guilt her, Natalia felt pity. The woman was obviously at the end of her rope, clearly unwell and yet obstinate in her refusal to give up.
Natalia agreed to help, her heart warming when Olivia finally raised her eyes to look at her, most likely shocked Natalia had actually said yes.
What followed was a nerve-wracking yet exhilarating experience as Olivia put all her trust in her and between them they managed to convince Decker to change his, and consequently Olivia’s, plans. This then afforded Natalia the time to force Olivia to carry out her side of the agreement, to go to the hospital and get checked out.
Hence the reason she was sitting here now.
‘Chronic rejection,’ Rick had said, ‘back on the heart transplant list’.
As her own fear magnified she watched as Olivia closed down and practically dismissed her.
She was still contemplating and drying her eyes when the object of her contemplation strode round the corner. Leaping to her feet she couldn’t hold back the incredulousness in her voice as she questioned, “What are you doing?”
“Getting takeout,” Olivia’s demeanor was grim.
“You're supposed to be checking into the hospital!”
“I'm supposed to be making arrangements for myself and my family, okay? So I'm going to get some food.”
Natalia sighed heavily, unbelieving of this woman and her inability to accept she needed to deal with this.
“I don't know how long I'm going to be in there.” Natalia listened as Olivia’s voice expressed her concerns and then changed to one of confusion and disbelief as she tried to make sense of her situation, “I just crossed the street, and I'm alright.”
She could feel her tears welling again.
“My God, why are you crying? Why are you crying?”
Natalia hadn’t realized she was, “I'm not. I'm fine.”
“You are fine.”
“Yeah.”
Olivia sounded angry now, “So those are tears for Rafe, because I don't want pity. I don't need your pity.”
“You know, it was upsetting news.”
“I told you not to go. Okay, it was nice of you to take me over there and stick with me, but I didn't ask you to do it, alright? I don't need someone to take notes or be strong for me and like Rick said, we knew this could happen.”
“No, I didn't know that this could happen, okay? The thought of... another transplant?” Knowing how much it had cost Olivia before, Natalia feared for her ability to survive another recuperation period, let alone an operation.
Olivia pulled her mouth back into a toothless smile, “I knew it.”
Natalia was confused, why was it when they were together they always argued? She huffed out a sigh, her earlier tears and sympathy retreating behind her rising ire. She couldn’t resist poking back as they faced off against each other, “What?”
Olivia leaned forward into Natalia’s face, “This isn't about me. You're crying over Gus' heart,” and with that accusation she walked away.
Openmouthed and dumbfounded, Natalia stared at Olivia’s back before following her into Company. She noticed Olivia hoisting herself with some difficulty onto one of the barstools and then listened, her anger growing as Olivia continued, “I'm just the freezer keeping your husband's heart on ice.”
She heard the catch as Olivia drew breath mid-sentence, the stumble as her strength momentarily gave way and Natalia knew she needed to put an end to this, “Oh, no, stop it.”
But Olivia would not be stopped and continued her tirade, “Don't you think his heart means a little more to me than it does to you? After all, it's the only thing keeping me alive right now, though it's not doing a very good job.”
Natalia was worried. Where she preferred the simplicity of a few tears to express her frustrations, Olivia was clearly working herself up and using anger. She had to get her to calm down, “Alright, Olivia...”
On a roll, Olivia bulldozed over her, “But that's my fault, too, isn't it? That's my fault, because I haven't taken very good care of myself. I haven't taken very good... and I didn't appreciate it when you offered it to me. When did you decide that I was good enough for it, Natalia?”
She had heard enough and Olivia’s face was alarmingly red now, “Oh, will you please stop?”
“You stop it! Because you don't give a damn about me.”
Natalia watched, intuitively realizing Olivia needed to say this, needed to vent but hurt nonetheless by the accusations she made; Natalia did care.
“Staying over there at that hospital, that was all about you. ‘Dr. Rick, what's the verdict on the heart?’” she mimicked, “I bet you would rather me risk my life then to get a new heart, because it was never really mine to begin with, was it?”
“That's not true...”
Olivia was struggling to draw breath now but incapable of stopping. She was hurt, Natalia understood that and Olivia’s natural response was to attack, “But I can't really blame you for that, because you know what? Your dead husband's heart is all you've got, Natalia, because your poor, fugitive son is off in jail somewhere for who knows how long.” Olivia was gesticulating wildly now, her voice wavering and juddering on the verge of crying as she forced out the last of her verbal assault, “And all you can do is find something new to obsess over to pass the time.”
Out of steam at last, Olivia put her hand over her mouth and was unable to stop the tears that finally came.
“Was it worth it? Making yourself sicker, so you could tell me off?” Natalia kept her voice even, “And you're absolutely right. Why on earth would I care about you?” She almost couldn’t bear to look at the woman she had worried over for the last several hours. “Why would anyone, when you treat people the way you do?” Natalia truly didn’t understand it.
She watched as Olivia regained her composure and held her gaze before stepping down from the barstool, grabbing her bag and walking passed her without another word.
Natalia wanted to say more, how it hadn’t been about Gus for a long time but she just stood there, devastated and feeling such compassion for the woman yet unable to express it, it was like trying to hug a hedgehog.
Knowing it wouldn’t serve either of them to persist with that line of thinking Natalia closed her mouth to whatever she was about to say and changed tack. Angry but nevertheless bothered at seeing Olivia in such distress, Natalia soothed her tone, “Are you ready to get going again or do you need a few more minutes?” She looked away for a moment to scan their surroundings, “Decker might come back.”
Annoyed with herself for attacking the one person who was helping her Olivia gave an almost imperceptible nod of her head and pushed away from the wall. Whimpering, she fell back.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Natalia’s arm instinctively reached up to steady her and rubbed Olivia’s arm in comfort.
“My eyes... dizzy.”
Unsure if that was the drink, her headache or a lethal combination of both Natalia probed further, “Okay, what about your eyes? Is it your vision?”
Eyelids carefully cracked open and then slammed shut.
She nodded slightly, “Blurry, wiggly lines.”
Natalia frowned, “How long has this been going on?”
“Since the fundraiser... got worse later.” Olivia was pressing the palms of her hands against her brow line as if to push her brain back inside her head. “The wiggly lines are new, thought the blurriness was the alcohol.”
Since the fundraiser? This was getting silly, how could the woman have persisted through the evening feeling the way she obviously did and... reining in her exasperation at the maddeningly infuriating woman pathetically propped against the wall beside her, Natalia couldn’t shake the alarm bells that started ringing, “Do you feel like you want to be sick at all?”
Green eyes flashed at her, no doubt remembering her recent sickness at the cabin. “A little bit, yeah.” She drew in a shuddering breath.
“Olivia, I think you might have a migraine. Have you ever had one before?”
“I... I think so. Not as bad as this though.” She could actually feel her brain pulsing now and pushing at her eyeballs again; her stomach lurched.
Empathising with the abject misery radiating off the woman before her, Natalia took her arm and levered her away from the wall. Keeping her voice soft and quiet she coaxed, “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
***
Somehow they made it back to the Beacon; every step to the car a clap of thunder resonating through her skull. When they pulled up to the hotel Natalia spoke briefly to her to see if she wanted to take the service elevators, a tempting suggestion but Olivia’s pride refused to allow her to skulk through her own hotel, especially as to the casual observer she looked like the victim of a great night out on the town.
Crossing the foyer had its own challenges however.
“Miss Spencer!”
Both women stopped and turned back to see the night manager, Jessica, standing behind the reception desk beckoning them to her.
“Yes?” her voice, a husky imitation of her usual commanding tone, still managed to convey in one word a layer of irritation.
Working in the hotel industry allowed you to become familiar with all walks of life and Jessica considered herself an astute observer of human nature, it was one of the reasons she felt she had been promoted to this role. Watching as her employer changed direction and headed towards her, her skills were warning this probably wasn’t the best time to be flagging her down; a fact backed up when she reached her. She noticed how her often mercurial boss had a white-knuckle grip on the desk and how Natalia was standing very closely by her side, trying to look like she wasn’t watching over Olivia like a hawk. Although she knew Olivia had some health issues in the past, the faint odour of alcohol drew her to a false conclusion and having made that assumption she discarded and filed it under ‘none of her business’, another reason she was promoted she was sure.
“Sorry Miss Spencer, I thought you’d like to know we had a little trouble in room 204.”
“Trouble? What kind of trouble?” her brain pulsed.
“The ‘we had to call security’ trouble.”
“Is everyone okay? Was anyone hurt?” Trust Natalia to ask the important questions, I was wondering about damage to the room.
Jessica shook her head, “No thankfully. I’ve put an incident report through to you but I know how you don’t like surprises and as I saw you I thought I’d give you the heads up.”
“Okay, thanks Jessica.”
“No problem, goodnight,” she smiled at them both.
Olivia smiled faintly at her and gathered the courage to let go of the desk, reassured by Natalia’s presence impossibly close beside her.
Finally making it inside the elevator Olivia groaned.
“Hey, we’re nearly there. You going to make it?”
“Uh huh,” Olivia wanted to turn everything off, everything. She sucked in a breath.
Exiting the elevator, the corridor lighting was too bright for Olivia’s sensitive eyes, so with her eyelids squinted almost shut and her left hand permanently affixed to shade her brow, Natalia guided her to her suite and left her sagged against the doorframe as she worked the key card to open the door.
Leaving the main light off, Natalia steered Olivia to the bed and then went to the opposing bedside lamp to switch it on, dimming it to a more tolerable level.
Olivia had lain down on the bed, her right arm across her eyes while her left hand clenched by her side, her whole body taut with tension as she tried to fight against the pain in her skull.
“Here, take this.” Natalia handed her a glass with what looked like cloudy water, she hadn’t even heard her moving around the room, the pulsing in her head was so loud. Sensing some hesitation Natalia clarified, “They’re soluble, hopefully they’ll work faster.”
Raising her head to take a sip the walls wavered and she clenched her jaw tight in response.
“What is it? Are you going to be sick?”
Keeping her jaw clenched and using the smallest of movements to shake her head she fought down the nausea and really wished Natalia would stop talking about being sick.
She could feel her shoes being removed, an act she normally would have done as soon as she entered the room but her feet only cared the shoes were gone and almost sighed from their release. Then Natalia’s hand was at her shoulder, a gentle persuasive voice in her ear, “Olivia, can you sit up for me?”
She wasn’t sure she could but the faint tugging at her arm implied Natalia wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Keeping her eyes firmly closed she sat up.
Her level of awareness was such it took a moment for her to realise she was now leaning against Natalia and the younger woman was holding her in a loose embrace to reach behind her to unzip her dress, an act which earlier inspired pleasant tingles but now, to her distorted hearing, droned like a chainsaw.
Natalia pulled away slightly and peeled Olivia’s dress from her shoulders. “Let me get you out of this dress, you’ll be comfier,” a voice sounded very close to her ear. With her current migraine status by rights it should have sounded like a bullhorn but it didn’t, it sounded angelic, safe.
Not wanting to give up her comfy spot she whimpered again as Natalia pulled further away but then she felt a hand close over her arm and assist her in removing it from the sleeve. The act was repeated for her other arm and she could feel the coolness of the air against her chest as her dress gaped forward.
“Okay, lie back.”
She was gently lowered back to the pillow.
“I just need you to lift up for me,” came the instruction and Olivia raised her butt from the mattress to allow Natalia to slip the dress down, over the swell of her hips until her legs were lifted and the dress completely removed.
She could feel skin against her skin as fingers grazed her sides.
“What are you doing?” she whispered, even that hurt.
“Shh... relax Olivia, just relax.”
Then she realised Natalia was removing her hose, peeling them away like another layer of skin, the cool air baptising her limbs’ freedom.
Blankets covered her.
How many times was Natalia going to do this for her? How many times had she done it already?
Her mind was whirling and she couldn’t stop the pain. Squirming, she tried to find a comfortable position to lie in.
“Hey,” a cool hand was brushing over her brow, “Olivia.”
Olivia opened her eyes enough to see Natalia crouched down beside the bed, one hand holding one of her facecloths.
“Here, this should help.” The facecloth was cold as Natalia folded it and laid it across her forehead. For a moment her pain spiked and then receded to a dull ache. “If you can, you should drink this.”
Earlier all she had wanted was a glass of water, now she doubted her ability to be able sit up and drink it.
“Help me up?” she rasped.
“Sure. Ready?”
Olivia nodded and Natalia moved in behind her to act as a living backrest, she was surprised but pathetically grateful. Waiting for her equilibrium to even out before opening her eyes again, she sipped at the glass before her. Natalia then moved the glass to the nightstand and with one arm wrapped around her in an embrace, raised her other to hold the cooling compress against her skull.
“Better?”
It was crazy, here she was after one of the longest days she could remember having drunk too much, eaten too little and suffering the effects of a migraine, it was the best she had felt all day.
“Much,” she murmured then promptly passed out.
To be continued...
Flashback scene from episode: 13th Oct 2008 viewable either here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLIFbFRY7Xk or if you prefer HD - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kec8vPZsOwA with thanks to Otaliafan and Solari111 for the clips