Once Upon a Dream 31/?
Title: Once Upon a Dream 31/?
Author: Kelinswriter
Fandom: Guiding Light
Pairing: Olivia/Natalia
Rating: NC-17 (for lots of things)
Summary: Starts with the infamous scene with the OPT Pregnancy Test. Spins off from there into its own little universe.
Disclaimer: CBS, P&G, Telenext et. al. owns these characters; I'm just taking them off the shelf and playing with them for a while.
Chapters 1-11
Chapters 12-19
Chapters 20-29
30
"You should come see your mom."
Rafe tossed the remnants of his half eaten roast beef sandwich in the garbage can under the sink, propping his phone against his shoulder while he washed his hands. "Ashlee, I don't think I can be there right now."
"No, it's okay. My mom took Olivia to The Beacon so she could change and then they're going to lunch." Rafe could hear how hard Ashlee was working to convince him - almost like she'd rehearsed it before she called. Which, knowing her, she probably had. "I don't think they'll be back for a couple hours."
"She cares so much about my mama but she's going out for a long lunch." Rafe scowled, that coiled knot in his stomach - that place within him that tangled up whenever he was reminded of Olivia's presence in his mother's life - wound itself a little tighter. "Nice."
"Rafe, she's barely left the hospital for days. Doris is afraid she's going to get sick again." Rafe heard a hint of irritation creep into Ashee's tone. "I saw the way she looks at your mom. She's really in love with her."
"Yeah, but -"
"Look, no but," Ashlee interrupted. "Turn off Call of Duty and get over here."
"Aight, fine." Rafe slammed his phone shut and shoved it into the back pocket of his baggy jeans. It took him a while to find his cross trainers - they'd somehow gotten buried under the pile of dirty laundry in the corner of his room - but eventually he located them and a clean black shirt which he tossed over his white undershirt, and then he was out the door.
He was sweating by the time he got to the hospital, and not just because it was a scorching hot day. He didn't like being there - never had, and right now, with everything that was happening, going into that place felt like walking back into prison. Olivia's prison, he thought. She's got you trapped, Mama. And I gotta find a way to get you out.
He was sure it was Olivia's fault that his mother was getting worse. He'd told Frank as much when he got home from work and found his mentor sitting on the back porch, beer bottle in hand, a glum look on his face. "Yo man, what's wrong?" Rafe had asked as he sat down beside Frank on the rickety white steps, nudging Frank over until he had enough room.
"I let my temper get the better of me." Frank leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his head bowed. "Olivia came into the station, really upset. She tried to push past me, and the next thing I know, I'm slamming her up against a wall."
"Sounds like she deserved it." Rafe rubbed at his chin, wondering briefly if he should just let the stubble grow back into a beard. Ma likes me smooth shaven, he thought, discarding the notion.
"I could have hurt her." Frank took another swig of his beer, the bottle dangling loosely from his fingers. "I used more force than was necessary."
"Maybe force is what she needs," Rafe said.
Frank straightened. "That's not fair, Rafe. My job is to protect people, not push them around."
"No, man, no." Rafe pushed to his feet, stepping into the backyard. "You're the one who told me how she's hurt all these people, how she's done all these bad things to you, and Buzz, and my grandpa - how she even tried to kill her own kid a couple years ago. She's not a good person, yet everyone cuts her a break, while my mom is..." He shrugged. "It's not okay."
"I heard about your mom," Frank said, his voice filled with cloying sympathy. "Pop told me a little while ago. I'm really sorry."
Rafe felt his hands clench, the urge to strike out - to smash something, for no reason other than the release of tension - near overwhelming. Jamming his fingers into his pockets, he strode back and forth over the narrow scrap of grass Frank called a backyard, the evening dew clinging to his muddy shoes. "I went to my mom's house tonight, and Olivia was there, Frank. She was there with a key, walking into the place just like she owned it. She can do that, because she got my mom to sign papers putting her in charge of everything while she's sick."
"Well, Olivia's a smart businesswoman," Frank said. "She knows how to handle financial issues, things like that."
"God, Frank, don't you get it?" Rafe stopped pacing, pressing his hands to his head. He looked down at Frank, unable to believe how clueless the older man was. "She wants the house, and the land, and my mom's money. It's just like when she wanted the house Gus bought for us. That's all she's been after, all this time."
"I know that thing with the house your dad bought you upset you," Frank said, his tone patronizing. "But I don't think that's what's happening here."
"Why not?"
"Well, for one thing, because Olivia really does care about your mom. And for another..." Frank picked up his beer, studying the label for a moment before turning his gaze on Rafe. "You know Olivia owns The Beacon, right? I mean, owns it lock, stock, and barrel?"
"I thought Cassie Lewis had something to do with it," Rafe said. "Mama said when Olivia was sick, Cassie was running things."
"She might own a tiny piece of it. But where it counts, it's all Olivia's."
"So?" Rafe fidgeted, waiting for Frank to get to the point.
"So on top of that, she owns a chunk of both of the Lewis family's companies. And she also has a pretty substantial stake in Spaulding Enterprises."
"She's an owner of my grandpa's company?" Rafe exclaimed.
"Well, she owns enough of it that I'm pretty sure she has a seat on the board." Frank took another swig of beer. "The point I'm trying to make is that Olivia has way more money than she knows what to do with. She could buy any house in town if she wanted to. But instead, she helped your mom buy the farmhouse -pretty much wouldn't leave her alone until she did it. Now if she wanted the house for herself, why would she do that?"
"Because she's working an angle," Rafe said, hate dripping off every word. "She's always working an angle."
"I don't see it, Rafe." Frank rubbed at his forehead. "I know Olivia's done a lot of bad things in the past. But when I look at her now, all I see is someone who is scared to death that the person she loves is sick."
Rafe stared down at the ground as a silence fell between them. A cricket chirped from somewhere beneath the porch, and down the street, a dog barked when a car rolled past. He tried to imagine that it could be true - that Olivia could be different, could be someone other than the woman who had tried to ruin his mother's wedding, who had stolen Gus's heart. Tried to believe the words she'd said to him as they stood outside the farmhouse just a few hours earlier. When are you going to understand that this place doesn't mean anything to me if she's not in it? He wanted to believe - for his Mama's sake, he wanted to, even though the idea made him feel hollow inside.
But he couldn't.
"Can I ask you a question, Frank?" Rafe asked, fighting as hard as he could to keep his voice calm, reasonable. Adult.
"Sure." Frank clasped his hands together, elbows on knees again. "What do you want to know?"
"How'd Olivia get all that money?" Rafe asked. "I mean, did she buy into those companies?"
"Well, she..." Frank's shoulders slumped. "I see your point, Rafe."
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Rafe's stomach twisted as the pattern made itself clear. "She married a guy, took a bunch of what he'd earned for herself, and then moved on to the next person. And then she did the same thing all over again."
Frank gave a defeated nod. "Yeah, that's pretty much what she did."
Voice cold, Rafe said, "So what makes you think she's not doing that now?"
Frank tried his best to answer, insisting that even though he was still mad at Olivia over the wedding, she'd been a good friend to Rafe's mom, and he didn't see any reason why she'd try to take the farmhouse away. After a while Rafe simply tuned it out, his mind moving on to how he could prove Frank wrong. He'd thought about that all night, and most of the next day. In fact, it was what he'd been thinking about when he walked past the alley behind Company and discovered Olivia and Cyrus standing just inches apart, looking like they were going to start making out any second. He'd wanted to take a swing at her - hell, he'd wanted to beat her senseless - but something about the way she looked at him, the mix of guilt and fury glittering in her green eyes, had stopped him from raising his hand. I got nothing where you're concerned, he'd said as he backed away, but the truth was he had something. He had quite a lot.
Because he knew now - knew that she was up to something, that she was trying to play him, trying to play them all. She'd done it before: to Gus, Frank, Buzz, Phillip, his grandpa, the Lewises, even Jeffrey O'Neill.
But she wasn't going to play his mama. Not anymore.
That thought was what kept him together - was the only thing that kept him together - when he walked into his ma's room and saw her for the first time in three days. She looked so tiny, so still, and there were tubes and wires everywhere. "Hey, Ma," he said as he took her hand, noting how cold her skin felt against his sweaty palm. He wiped his hand on his jeans, then once again took those slender fingers between his own. "I'm sorry I haven't been here. But I've been thinking about you."
He closed his eyes, making the sign of the cross as she had taught him, silently saying the bits that he could remember of the Lord's Prayer. It was her voice he heard in his head, her smile he saw as he mumbled along as he had, Sunday after Sunday, his knees aching on the thinly padded kneeler of St. Margaret's. She'd always been so proud when he said the entire prayer, but now his brain kept stalling on the line that never made any sense to him. Thy will be done.
I want her back, God, whether it's Your will or not, he thought. And the only way I can do that is by stopping Olivia.
He heard soft steps from the far corner of the room, felt a gentle touch on his arm. "Rafe?" Ashlee's voice was low and careful - like she was talking to a wild animal, hoping she wouldn't get bit. "Do you want me to leave you alone?"
Rafe shook his head. "It's cool." He sat down on the chair next to the bed, still holding his ma's hand, and waited for Ashlee to settle onto the cot against the wall. Angling the chair so they could see each other, he listened as Ashlee told him how Olivia had asked her to set up the iPod that was playing softly in the background. "What is that weird opera shit?" he asked as the music shifted.
"Olivia's really into opera," Ashlee explained. "She gave me all her CDs and had me rip them onto a playlist for your mom." She hesitated, then added, "Except for this one CD. She threw it so hard that it smashed into about a million pieces. That was weird."
"Well it's her," he said with a shrug.
Ashlee laughed. "You really don't like her, do you."
"Would you, if she turned your mom gay?"
"I wouldn't have any problem with my mom being gay," Ashlee said. "Especially if it made her as happy as your mom makes Olivia."
Rafe heard a cough from the doorway, followed by footsteps. A moment later, Ashlee's mom came around the corner. Her face, Rafe noticed, was red.
"Ashlee," Doris said, her tone uncertain. Her eyes shifted as she noticed Rafe's presence. "Hi, Rafe. It's good to see you here."
"You mean, with my mother, where I belong?" Rafe couldn't help but snap.
Doris's blue eyes turned cold, one eyebrow arching in his direction. She drew breath to retort, then seemed to change her mind. Looking over at Ashlee, she said, "Did you finish with all the music?" Her voice was almost gentle.
Ashlee nodded. "Everything Olivia wanted is on there now."
"Good, that's good." Doris, Rafe noted, still seemed flustered. Probably drunk, he thought. Ma always used to say that Olivia and Doris in the same room was a recipe for trouble. He brushed aside the affection in his mother's voice as she'd said those words, not wanting to think about how similar her tone was to the one she used when she bitched about picking up Gus's dirty clothes off the floor. It's not the same, he thought. It's just that brainwashing thing Olivia does to get people to give them what she wants.
"Rafe?" Doris's voice pulled him back to the present. "Can you stay with your mom until Olivia gets back?"
Rafe nodded. "I'm not going anywhere."
Doris hesitated, then added, "It's important not to leave her alone. If you need any snacks or drinks, we can get them for you before we leave."
Rafe felt that knot of irritation in his stomach flare, burning inside him like he imagined Gus's ulcer must have burned when he ate chili dogs. "Nobody has to tell me how to take care of my mom."
Doris nodded, turning her attention to Ashlee, who was finishing packing up her laptop. "You ready to go?"
Ashlee got to her feet and crossed to where Rafe was sitting. She wrapped her pale arms around him, swallowing him in a fierce embrace. "I'll call you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, all right." Rafe noted the scent of lilac, and how soft her fair skin was, and that her boobs were - Whoa. "Yeah, thanks, Ashlee," he mumbled, noting that she kept holding on, even though she must have noticed by now that her chest was pretty much in his face. Yet she seemed reluctant to step away.
"Okay, bye," she said, and then her gaze turned toward his mom. "Bye, Natalia. I'll see you soon."
She gathered up her laptop bag and purse, and the two of them left, Doris sparing a last, pointed glance in Rafe's direction before she walked away. He would have bet money that the minute she hit the hallway, she was on the phone to Olivia, telling her to hurry back and rescue Natalia from the clutches of her evil son.
"Screw them," Rafe murmured as he turned the chair so he could face his mother. "I'll show everyone, Mama. I'll get you out of this and then we can go home and I'll take care of you. You won't have to worry about anything again."
He glanced at his watch, then at the TV. "Hey, I think the Cubbies are on. You want to watch?" He grinned and said, "Of course you want to watch. Well, listen."
And for a while that's what they did - Rafe turned off the iPod and that mostly stupid music and they watched the Cubs game from the bottom of the third on. A nurse came in to check on them during the seventh inning stretch - the pretty one with the dark hair and eyes, who always tried to talk to him in some weird Spanish he couldn't understand. She did it now, babbling on while she swapped Natalia's IV and took her pulse.
When the blank look he was giving her sank in, she rolled her eyes, making an irritated motion. "Fine," she said in English. "I was telling you that you should keep an eye on La Medusa. You know who I mean, yes?"
"Olivia?" Rafe nodded. "Yeah, I know."
"She's responsible for this." The nurse waved one hand over Natalia's still form. "She doesn't want your mother to get well."
Rafe's head snapped up at the words. Jumping to his feet, he circled the bed, pinning the nurse in the far corner of the room. "How do you know that? Can you prove it?"
"She threw me out of the room the other night," the nurse said. "Wouldn't let me take care of your mother. You ask me, she's up to something. And this mysterious coma..." She trailed off, her shrug eloquent.
"I knew it!" Rafe exclaimed. "She wants our house. I knew she wanted our house!"
"Maybe." The nurse gave him a measuring look. "She's got the papers that give her control. You better find a way to get it back if you don't want to lose mamacita for good."
With a last, warning look, the nurse departed the room. For a while, Rafe could do nothing but pace, the Cubs game now nothing but droning in the background. I gotta get her out of here, he thought. But how?
Blind panic hit, the walls closing in around him as he struggled to keep breathing, to not scream as they pushed in closer and closer. The roar in his brain splintered into a million voices, all clamoring for attention, until finally one grew loud enough that he could distinguish it from the din. Alan, he thought. Alan will know what to do.
He was just finding Alan's entry in his cell phone when he heard footsteps. Looking up, he said Olivia coming through the door, her face drawn with exhaustion. Her eyes met his, and he could see the wheels turning, see her calculating what to say to him, how to play him. She said his name, her voice soft, and then she drew breath to say something else, and he couldn't, just couldn't stand to hear the next lie that would come out of her mouth.
"How did you do it?" he snarled. "How did she end up in the coma?"
"Rafe?" He saw the panic in Olivia's eyes, the fear as his words hit home. "What are you talking about?"
"I want..." He stepped forward. "...to know..." Another step. "...what you did to her."
"I didn't do anything to her," Olivia said, and he saw it again, that flash of guilt that proved she was lying to him.
He clenched his fists, stepping forward until he was right in her face. "You tell me what you did to her, or I am gonna beat it out of you."
He saw those green eyes flare as something malevolent came unhinged. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Rafe?" Olivia said, and that voice was low, almost seductive. "Be a big man, put me in my place. Gus would be so proud of you."
"You don't talk about him." Rafe grabbed hold of her shirt, and then he was pushing backward, Olivia's spike heels hampering her as she tried to keep her balance. He shoved her through the door, out into the hallway, not stopping until she slammed into the far wall of the waiting area opposite Natalia's room. "You don't ever talk about him!"
He saw Olivia gasp, fighting for the air he'd knocked out of her lungs, but before he could follow with another blow he heard shouts and felt arms wrap around him from behind. Lillian was there, grabbing Olivia as she sagged forward, and Dr. Rick was shouting, and then Rafe was being carried toward the elevators, the orderlies who'd grabbed him shoving him in and hauling him onto the street. They dumped him on the sidewalk, sweating and bruised, a burly security guard taking up station right in front of the door so that he couldn't try to get back inside.
"You want a fight?" he shouted, aiming high as he flipped off the windows, hoping that she was looking down, that she could see. "Just wait!"
The security guard was walking toward him, and so Rafe took off, not stopping until he was well past Company. He paused to catch his breath, fishing into his front pocket for his phone. It wasn't there, nor was it in his back pocket, and it was only then that he remembered it clattering to the floor as he'd lunged at Olivia.
"Fuck," he shouted, clutching at his hair as he tried to get his heart rate under control. When he could breathe again, when he could think, he stood up, smoothed his clothes, and set off toward Frank's house.
Frank didn't want to believe that Olivia was playing them like she'd played everyone else? Fuck it. Rafe would prove she was.
And then the bitch would get some justice - La Divsión style.
Author: Kelinswriter
Fandom: Guiding Light
Pairing: Olivia/Natalia
Rating: NC-17 (for lots of things)
Summary: Starts with the infamous scene with the OPT Pregnancy Test. Spins off from there into its own little universe.
Disclaimer: CBS, P&G, Telenext et. al. owns these characters; I'm just taking them off the shelf and playing with them for a while.
Chapters 1-11
Chapters 12-19
Chapters 20-29
30
"You should come see your mom."
Rafe tossed the remnants of his half eaten roast beef sandwich in the garbage can under the sink, propping his phone against his shoulder while he washed his hands. "Ashlee, I don't think I can be there right now."
"No, it's okay. My mom took Olivia to The Beacon so she could change and then they're going to lunch." Rafe could hear how hard Ashlee was working to convince him - almost like she'd rehearsed it before she called. Which, knowing her, she probably had. "I don't think they'll be back for a couple hours."
"She cares so much about my mama but she's going out for a long lunch." Rafe scowled, that coiled knot in his stomach - that place within him that tangled up whenever he was reminded of Olivia's presence in his mother's life - wound itself a little tighter. "Nice."
"Rafe, she's barely left the hospital for days. Doris is afraid she's going to get sick again." Rafe heard a hint of irritation creep into Ashee's tone. "I saw the way she looks at your mom. She's really in love with her."
"Yeah, but -"
"Look, no but," Ashlee interrupted. "Turn off Call of Duty and get over here."
"Aight, fine." Rafe slammed his phone shut and shoved it into the back pocket of his baggy jeans. It took him a while to find his cross trainers - they'd somehow gotten buried under the pile of dirty laundry in the corner of his room - but eventually he located them and a clean black shirt which he tossed over his white undershirt, and then he was out the door.
He was sweating by the time he got to the hospital, and not just because it was a scorching hot day. He didn't like being there - never had, and right now, with everything that was happening, going into that place felt like walking back into prison. Olivia's prison, he thought. She's got you trapped, Mama. And I gotta find a way to get you out.
He was sure it was Olivia's fault that his mother was getting worse. He'd told Frank as much when he got home from work and found his mentor sitting on the back porch, beer bottle in hand, a glum look on his face. "Yo man, what's wrong?" Rafe had asked as he sat down beside Frank on the rickety white steps, nudging Frank over until he had enough room.
"I let my temper get the better of me." Frank leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his head bowed. "Olivia came into the station, really upset. She tried to push past me, and the next thing I know, I'm slamming her up against a wall."
"Sounds like she deserved it." Rafe rubbed at his chin, wondering briefly if he should just let the stubble grow back into a beard. Ma likes me smooth shaven, he thought, discarding the notion.
"I could have hurt her." Frank took another swig of his beer, the bottle dangling loosely from his fingers. "I used more force than was necessary."
"Maybe force is what she needs," Rafe said.
Frank straightened. "That's not fair, Rafe. My job is to protect people, not push them around."
"No, man, no." Rafe pushed to his feet, stepping into the backyard. "You're the one who told me how she's hurt all these people, how she's done all these bad things to you, and Buzz, and my grandpa - how she even tried to kill her own kid a couple years ago. She's not a good person, yet everyone cuts her a break, while my mom is..." He shrugged. "It's not okay."
"I heard about your mom," Frank said, his voice filled with cloying sympathy. "Pop told me a little while ago. I'm really sorry."
Rafe felt his hands clench, the urge to strike out - to smash something, for no reason other than the release of tension - near overwhelming. Jamming his fingers into his pockets, he strode back and forth over the narrow scrap of grass Frank called a backyard, the evening dew clinging to his muddy shoes. "I went to my mom's house tonight, and Olivia was there, Frank. She was there with a key, walking into the place just like she owned it. She can do that, because she got my mom to sign papers putting her in charge of everything while she's sick."
"Well, Olivia's a smart businesswoman," Frank said. "She knows how to handle financial issues, things like that."
"God, Frank, don't you get it?" Rafe stopped pacing, pressing his hands to his head. He looked down at Frank, unable to believe how clueless the older man was. "She wants the house, and the land, and my mom's money. It's just like when she wanted the house Gus bought for us. That's all she's been after, all this time."
"I know that thing with the house your dad bought you upset you," Frank said, his tone patronizing. "But I don't think that's what's happening here."
"Why not?"
"Well, for one thing, because Olivia really does care about your mom. And for another..." Frank picked up his beer, studying the label for a moment before turning his gaze on Rafe. "You know Olivia owns The Beacon, right? I mean, owns it lock, stock, and barrel?"
"I thought Cassie Lewis had something to do with it," Rafe said. "Mama said when Olivia was sick, Cassie was running things."
"She might own a tiny piece of it. But where it counts, it's all Olivia's."
"So?" Rafe fidgeted, waiting for Frank to get to the point.
"So on top of that, she owns a chunk of both of the Lewis family's companies. And she also has a pretty substantial stake in Spaulding Enterprises."
"She's an owner of my grandpa's company?" Rafe exclaimed.
"Well, she owns enough of it that I'm pretty sure she has a seat on the board." Frank took another swig of beer. "The point I'm trying to make is that Olivia has way more money than she knows what to do with. She could buy any house in town if she wanted to. But instead, she helped your mom buy the farmhouse -pretty much wouldn't leave her alone until she did it. Now if she wanted the house for herself, why would she do that?"
"Because she's working an angle," Rafe said, hate dripping off every word. "She's always working an angle."
"I don't see it, Rafe." Frank rubbed at his forehead. "I know Olivia's done a lot of bad things in the past. But when I look at her now, all I see is someone who is scared to death that the person she loves is sick."
Rafe stared down at the ground as a silence fell between them. A cricket chirped from somewhere beneath the porch, and down the street, a dog barked when a car rolled past. He tried to imagine that it could be true - that Olivia could be different, could be someone other than the woman who had tried to ruin his mother's wedding, who had stolen Gus's heart. Tried to believe the words she'd said to him as they stood outside the farmhouse just a few hours earlier. When are you going to understand that this place doesn't mean anything to me if she's not in it? He wanted to believe - for his Mama's sake, he wanted to, even though the idea made him feel hollow inside.
But he couldn't.
"Can I ask you a question, Frank?" Rafe asked, fighting as hard as he could to keep his voice calm, reasonable. Adult.
"Sure." Frank clasped his hands together, elbows on knees again. "What do you want to know?"
"How'd Olivia get all that money?" Rafe asked. "I mean, did she buy into those companies?"
"Well, she..." Frank's shoulders slumped. "I see your point, Rafe."
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Rafe's stomach twisted as the pattern made itself clear. "She married a guy, took a bunch of what he'd earned for herself, and then moved on to the next person. And then she did the same thing all over again."
Frank gave a defeated nod. "Yeah, that's pretty much what she did."
Voice cold, Rafe said, "So what makes you think she's not doing that now?"
Frank tried his best to answer, insisting that even though he was still mad at Olivia over the wedding, she'd been a good friend to Rafe's mom, and he didn't see any reason why she'd try to take the farmhouse away. After a while Rafe simply tuned it out, his mind moving on to how he could prove Frank wrong. He'd thought about that all night, and most of the next day. In fact, it was what he'd been thinking about when he walked past the alley behind Company and discovered Olivia and Cyrus standing just inches apart, looking like they were going to start making out any second. He'd wanted to take a swing at her - hell, he'd wanted to beat her senseless - but something about the way she looked at him, the mix of guilt and fury glittering in her green eyes, had stopped him from raising his hand. I got nothing where you're concerned, he'd said as he backed away, but the truth was he had something. He had quite a lot.
Because he knew now - knew that she was up to something, that she was trying to play him, trying to play them all. She'd done it before: to Gus, Frank, Buzz, Phillip, his grandpa, the Lewises, even Jeffrey O'Neill.
But she wasn't going to play his mama. Not anymore.
That thought was what kept him together - was the only thing that kept him together - when he walked into his ma's room and saw her for the first time in three days. She looked so tiny, so still, and there were tubes and wires everywhere. "Hey, Ma," he said as he took her hand, noting how cold her skin felt against his sweaty palm. He wiped his hand on his jeans, then once again took those slender fingers between his own. "I'm sorry I haven't been here. But I've been thinking about you."
He closed his eyes, making the sign of the cross as she had taught him, silently saying the bits that he could remember of the Lord's Prayer. It was her voice he heard in his head, her smile he saw as he mumbled along as he had, Sunday after Sunday, his knees aching on the thinly padded kneeler of St. Margaret's. She'd always been so proud when he said the entire prayer, but now his brain kept stalling on the line that never made any sense to him. Thy will be done.
I want her back, God, whether it's Your will or not, he thought. And the only way I can do that is by stopping Olivia.
He heard soft steps from the far corner of the room, felt a gentle touch on his arm. "Rafe?" Ashlee's voice was low and careful - like she was talking to a wild animal, hoping she wouldn't get bit. "Do you want me to leave you alone?"
Rafe shook his head. "It's cool." He sat down on the chair next to the bed, still holding his ma's hand, and waited for Ashlee to settle onto the cot against the wall. Angling the chair so they could see each other, he listened as Ashlee told him how Olivia had asked her to set up the iPod that was playing softly in the background. "What is that weird opera shit?" he asked as the music shifted.
"Olivia's really into opera," Ashlee explained. "She gave me all her CDs and had me rip them onto a playlist for your mom." She hesitated, then added, "Except for this one CD. She threw it so hard that it smashed into about a million pieces. That was weird."
"Well it's her," he said with a shrug.
Ashlee laughed. "You really don't like her, do you."
"Would you, if she turned your mom gay?"
"I wouldn't have any problem with my mom being gay," Ashlee said. "Especially if it made her as happy as your mom makes Olivia."
Rafe heard a cough from the doorway, followed by footsteps. A moment later, Ashlee's mom came around the corner. Her face, Rafe noticed, was red.
"Ashlee," Doris said, her tone uncertain. Her eyes shifted as she noticed Rafe's presence. "Hi, Rafe. It's good to see you here."
"You mean, with my mother, where I belong?" Rafe couldn't help but snap.
Doris's blue eyes turned cold, one eyebrow arching in his direction. She drew breath to retort, then seemed to change her mind. Looking over at Ashlee, she said, "Did you finish with all the music?" Her voice was almost gentle.
Ashlee nodded. "Everything Olivia wanted is on there now."
"Good, that's good." Doris, Rafe noted, still seemed flustered. Probably drunk, he thought. Ma always used to say that Olivia and Doris in the same room was a recipe for trouble. He brushed aside the affection in his mother's voice as she'd said those words, not wanting to think about how similar her tone was to the one she used when she bitched about picking up Gus's dirty clothes off the floor. It's not the same, he thought. It's just that brainwashing thing Olivia does to get people to give them what she wants.
"Rafe?" Doris's voice pulled him back to the present. "Can you stay with your mom until Olivia gets back?"
Rafe nodded. "I'm not going anywhere."
Doris hesitated, then added, "It's important not to leave her alone. If you need any snacks or drinks, we can get them for you before we leave."
Rafe felt that knot of irritation in his stomach flare, burning inside him like he imagined Gus's ulcer must have burned when he ate chili dogs. "Nobody has to tell me how to take care of my mom."
Doris nodded, turning her attention to Ashlee, who was finishing packing up her laptop. "You ready to go?"
Ashlee got to her feet and crossed to where Rafe was sitting. She wrapped her pale arms around him, swallowing him in a fierce embrace. "I'll call you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, all right." Rafe noted the scent of lilac, and how soft her fair skin was, and that her boobs were - Whoa. "Yeah, thanks, Ashlee," he mumbled, noting that she kept holding on, even though she must have noticed by now that her chest was pretty much in his face. Yet she seemed reluctant to step away.
"Okay, bye," she said, and then her gaze turned toward his mom. "Bye, Natalia. I'll see you soon."
She gathered up her laptop bag and purse, and the two of them left, Doris sparing a last, pointed glance in Rafe's direction before she walked away. He would have bet money that the minute she hit the hallway, she was on the phone to Olivia, telling her to hurry back and rescue Natalia from the clutches of her evil son.
"Screw them," Rafe murmured as he turned the chair so he could face his mother. "I'll show everyone, Mama. I'll get you out of this and then we can go home and I'll take care of you. You won't have to worry about anything again."
He glanced at his watch, then at the TV. "Hey, I think the Cubbies are on. You want to watch?" He grinned and said, "Of course you want to watch. Well, listen."
And for a while that's what they did - Rafe turned off the iPod and that mostly stupid music and they watched the Cubs game from the bottom of the third on. A nurse came in to check on them during the seventh inning stretch - the pretty one with the dark hair and eyes, who always tried to talk to him in some weird Spanish he couldn't understand. She did it now, babbling on while she swapped Natalia's IV and took her pulse.
When the blank look he was giving her sank in, she rolled her eyes, making an irritated motion. "Fine," she said in English. "I was telling you that you should keep an eye on La Medusa. You know who I mean, yes?"
"Olivia?" Rafe nodded. "Yeah, I know."
"She's responsible for this." The nurse waved one hand over Natalia's still form. "She doesn't want your mother to get well."
Rafe's head snapped up at the words. Jumping to his feet, he circled the bed, pinning the nurse in the far corner of the room. "How do you know that? Can you prove it?"
"She threw me out of the room the other night," the nurse said. "Wouldn't let me take care of your mother. You ask me, she's up to something. And this mysterious coma..." She trailed off, her shrug eloquent.
"I knew it!" Rafe exclaimed. "She wants our house. I knew she wanted our house!"
"Maybe." The nurse gave him a measuring look. "She's got the papers that give her control. You better find a way to get it back if you don't want to lose mamacita for good."
With a last, warning look, the nurse departed the room. For a while, Rafe could do nothing but pace, the Cubs game now nothing but droning in the background. I gotta get her out of here, he thought. But how?
Blind panic hit, the walls closing in around him as he struggled to keep breathing, to not scream as they pushed in closer and closer. The roar in his brain splintered into a million voices, all clamoring for attention, until finally one grew loud enough that he could distinguish it from the din. Alan, he thought. Alan will know what to do.
He was just finding Alan's entry in his cell phone when he heard footsteps. Looking up, he said Olivia coming through the door, her face drawn with exhaustion. Her eyes met his, and he could see the wheels turning, see her calculating what to say to him, how to play him. She said his name, her voice soft, and then she drew breath to say something else, and he couldn't, just couldn't stand to hear the next lie that would come out of her mouth.
"How did you do it?" he snarled. "How did she end up in the coma?"
"Rafe?" He saw the panic in Olivia's eyes, the fear as his words hit home. "What are you talking about?"
"I want..." He stepped forward. "...to know..." Another step. "...what you did to her."
"I didn't do anything to her," Olivia said, and he saw it again, that flash of guilt that proved she was lying to him.
He clenched his fists, stepping forward until he was right in her face. "You tell me what you did to her, or I am gonna beat it out of you."
He saw those green eyes flare as something malevolent came unhinged. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Rafe?" Olivia said, and that voice was low, almost seductive. "Be a big man, put me in my place. Gus would be so proud of you."
"You don't talk about him." Rafe grabbed hold of her shirt, and then he was pushing backward, Olivia's spike heels hampering her as she tried to keep her balance. He shoved her through the door, out into the hallway, not stopping until she slammed into the far wall of the waiting area opposite Natalia's room. "You don't ever talk about him!"
He saw Olivia gasp, fighting for the air he'd knocked out of her lungs, but before he could follow with another blow he heard shouts and felt arms wrap around him from behind. Lillian was there, grabbing Olivia as she sagged forward, and Dr. Rick was shouting, and then Rafe was being carried toward the elevators, the orderlies who'd grabbed him shoving him in and hauling him onto the street. They dumped him on the sidewalk, sweating and bruised, a burly security guard taking up station right in front of the door so that he couldn't try to get back inside.
"You want a fight?" he shouted, aiming high as he flipped off the windows, hoping that she was looking down, that she could see. "Just wait!"
The security guard was walking toward him, and so Rafe took off, not stopping until he was well past Company. He paused to catch his breath, fishing into his front pocket for his phone. It wasn't there, nor was it in his back pocket, and it was only then that he remembered it clattering to the floor as he'd lunged at Olivia.
"Fuck," he shouted, clutching at his hair as he tried to get his heart rate under control. When he could breathe again, when he could think, he stood up, smoothed his clothes, and set off toward Frank's house.
Frank didn't want to believe that Olivia was playing them like she'd played everyone else? Fuck it. Rafe would prove she was.
And then the bitch would get some justice - La Divsión style.