[Guiding Light Fic] The Importance of Family (9/10)

[jaina47]

Title: The Importance of Family
Fandom: Guiding Light
Characters: Olivia Spencer, Natalia Rivera, Ava Peralta, Emma Spencer, Jeffrey O'neil
Category: Angst, but the good kind. Romance, Drama.
Rating: R...I'm gonna say because there are some disturbing themes explored in here and some violence, although I don't think either is described in graphic detail.
Word count: 5,153
Summary: Life goes on. Sometimes it throws you a curveball and you never know what's coming your way on any given day.
Spoilers: Takes place around Thanksgiving '10, and includes the events of the finale.
Author's Note: This fic is solely for kelltwomyn. I was bemoaning the fact that I wasn't going to be able to afford a Venice subscription and she swooped in and got when for me when I said I'd be willing to offer fic in exchange. I hope this fic is both somewhat what you were hoping for and also worth your ten bucks and the wait.  I really have enjoyed Venice so far. Thank you. :)
Beta: Many thanks to q_wordy13  & aimlessla for beta'ing this for me! Your insights, comments, suggestions and encouragement have all been very much appreciated! :D 
Disclaimer: All characters (Olivia Spencer, Natalia Rivera, Emma Spencer, Ava Peralta, blah blah etc.) and situations belong to Guiding Light, Telenext, Proctor & Gamble, etc. I'm not them.
Warning: This story eventually deals with Olivia's rape. I don't think it's discussed graphically, but I don't want anyone to stumble upon it unaware either.



Part One  || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five || Part Six || Part Seven || Part Eight


Part Nine


"You invited Jeffrey?" Ava caught Olivia by the elbow as she whisked by the stairs on her way back to the kitchen and dragged her hurriedly up them. The way she said it sound like, Have you lost your mind?

"Hey!" Olivia protested. "Stop that," she grumbled, slapping at Ava's firm grip on her arm. "What is this, parental abuse?"

Ava's eyes narrowed. "You're avoiding the subject."

Olivia shrugged, rolling her shoulders as she pulled free of Ava. "Fine. I invited him. I didn't think you would mind."

"I don't," Ava said, folding her arms over her chest, making her statement less believable. "I just don't understand why you would-"

"I can ask him to leave, if you want," Olivia offered. "I thought it might be easier for you. There are a lot of people here and he won't have an opportunity to push for some big, deep conversation that you aren't ready for yet."

"Mom, I appreciate it. I really do," Ava said. "But I know you're still mad. You didn't have to do this."

Olivia let out a sigh. She had hoped they had gotten all the serious conversations out of the way in the past two days. Apparently not. "So?" She said quietly. "This is about you, not me."

"It is," Ava admitted. "But it's your holiday too, and your home. You should be able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner without having to deal with my mess." She pressed her lips together and reached out to touch Olivia's hand. "I'm not Francesca, Mom. You don't have to suck it up and deal with Jeffrey for me to be happy. I'm an adult; I can talk to him another day."

Olivia froze. "Don't worry about Frank or Francesca. I-" She stopped and gave a little half-smile. "We are taking care of it."

"I know." Ava agreed. Something about her mother's choice of words caught her attention. 'Taking care of it' sounded like more of an immediate problem then the way Olivia had mentioned it the morning before. She started to ask and then hesitated. Finish talking to Olivia about Jeffrey now, ask questions about Frank later. This was precisely why she was so surprised at what Olivia had done. Olivia already had enough difficulties in her life with the fathers of her children - it wasn't like Phillip had always been a walk in the park. Inviting Jeffrey in now made no sense for Olivia Spencer on a day when she had no reason to bother herself with him. "I don't want to make this any harder on you than it already has to be."

Olivia laid her hand on top of Ava's. "Don't worry about me. Sweetie, if this makes it easier for you, then let him stay. I know how much you missed him." She squeezed her hand. "You don't have to pretend differently for me. It's okay. You can feel however you want to feel about Jeffrey. That's all I'm saying." She tried not to but she couldn't help the way the corners of her mouth tugged upwards in a not-so-polite smile. "And if you want him to leave, I'll take care of that too." Okay, so she wasn't quite over Jeffrey endangering her daughters. She was Olivia Spencer and it had barely been two days. It would have been a miracle if she had been perfectly fine with him.

Ava hesitated and Olivia could see the emotion warring in her eyes. She looked down and picked at the hem of a sleeve, tugging it further down her arm even though it wasn't really rumpled. "So you would be okay if he stayed?"

"I know it's complicated, and I am angry right now, but we were friends, Jeffrey and I. It wasn't always easy or, well, very sane, but we got to a good place before he left." Because of you and that's all that matters. The night before had reminded her of the utter desperation that she had felt when she thought Ava was dead at her own bidding. It made her want to savor the time she had with her even more and do anything she could to help her be happy. "Besides, he doesn't have anywhere else to spend the day."

Ava glanced up. "Reva still isn't..."

Olivia shook her head. Not that she blamed Reva. She probably would have done the same - or worse. What Jeffrey had done was nearly unforgivable. "She's very upset. She even kicked Josh out when she realized that he had something to do with Jeffrey's original disappearance. She let him come back when she found out that he didn't know about Jeffrey faking his death, just the first part of his plan. But I think she still feels very betrayed by what Jeffrey did."

"She's not the only one."

"I know." Olivia agreed, but her tone lacked any of the harsh bite that Ava would have expected. She really was doing everything in her power to make this easy for her. It meant even more after all the hurtful things she had said to Olivia in the past few days. There was no way she could have asked for anything like this, and here was Olivia offering it to her voluntarily. Her mother would never cease to amaze her - and she would probably never understand it completely.

"If you're really sure you're okay with it, Mom-"

"I am."

"Then I think I'd like it if he stayed." She shrugged. "I don't know. It might be a disaster, but I have to talk to him sometime, right?"

"That's right," Olivia said, pushing away from the wall. She still had to let Natalia know that Jeffrey was there. She frowned. If Natalia hadn't already seen him. Although she probably would have found out by now if Natalia had. There was no way that she would keep silent on the subject of Jeffrey's presence in their home, not after the way she had reacted when he had come to see Ava.

It had been a completely spur-of-the-moment decision to invite him to Thanksgiving dinner. With Natalia cooking there was always room for one - or five - more at the table, but it hadn't even been a consideration until she had run into him at the grocery store earlier that morning. He had looked so forlorn when she had run into him, while picking up a list of last minute ingredients for Natalia, that she had abandoned her rapidly developed plan to confront him about why he hadn't returned to see Ava as he had promised the day before. It wasn't that she was eager to push them back together, but Jeffrey had broken a promise to Ava and that hadn't sat well with her.

For a moment, she had considered simply walking past without a word, but then memories of Jeffrey pushing her toward Ava, coming up with wild schemes to focus their daughter's attention squarely on them instead of Alan Michael...well, intentional or not, it had been the impetus that allowed she and Ava to form the relationship that they had today. She couldn't help but be a little bit grateful for that, no matter what had happened between them in the past. Or what he had done two days before.

That alone wouldn't have been enough, but when they started talking, Olivia had realized that somewhere below the anger that still lingered toward him, she actually pitied him. Jeffrey had no one to blame but himself, but he had wasted more than a year of his life chasing down Edmund, hurting and betraying his wife in ways he probably hadn't even considered when he had made his decision. There would be no way to get the time that he had missed with his son back again, things that he would never have a change to experience. Nothing would ever be the same for him. And despite the fact that it was all self-inflicted, Olivia couldn't help but feel for him. How many equally disastrous mistakes had she made in her life? Sure, in the end, she had gotten so very, very lucky with Natalia but there was no guarantee that Jeffrey could do the same. So, impulsively she had invited him, giving him a chance to see Ava and begin the long process of making amends. Even now she wasn't sure if it was the right decision, but it was the one she had made and now she would just have to let it play out.

"Mom," Ava called out, stopping her as she started to head back down the stairs. "I just- Thank you. You really, really didn't have to."

Olivia nodded, suddenly forced to blink back the tears that had welled in her eyes. "No problem, Sweetheart." And if her voice was deeper and huskier than normal, they both ignored the change.

*** *** ***

Natalia was just leaving the kitchen, subconsciously searching through the crowd of people in the living room for a glimpse of Olivia. As she carried a fresh tray of hors d'oeuvre over to the coffee table to be devoured, a flash of motion caught out of the corner of her eye drew her attention. She grimaced at the sight of Ava pulling Olivia up the stairs. Things had been going well all morning and she hoped they weren't falling apart now. For all that they had been easily joking and teasing with one another earlier, she knew it could all end with one careless word. Depositing the tray on the table, Natalia eased her way through the crowd, her attention focused on the second story landing.

"Sorry," she murmured under her breath as she bumped into someone, brushing them past without looking.

"No problem."

Natalia froze. Surely, she had heard wrong. Surely, Jeffrey - Jeffrey! - had not been invited to her Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, he was Ava's father and as such would apparently always have some place in their life, but not on this day. For Natalia, it was usually a case of the more, the merrier. It had been that way from the moment her parents had kicked her out, and slowly, very slowly, she had come to find a family of her own choosing, rather than what she had been given at birth. That family had grown more than she could have ever imagined over the past year.

Frank and the entire Cooper clan, with the exception of Marina and Henry who were spending the day with Shayne and the Lewises, were there to celebrate both the holiday and Francesca's first birthday. Even Phillip and Beth had agreed to spend the day with them after much pleading on Emma's part. It may have had something to do with the way she batted her eyes and pleaded to spend just one holiday with all her mommies and daddy. She was so much like her mother sometimes. It seemed like it was almost impossible for Phillip to refuse his daughter anything once she had set her mind on it. Which, of course, meant that James along with Lizzie, Bill, Sarah and Jonathan would also be coming. Much to her dismay, Rafe was conspicuous in his absence, unable to get leave to return home. It was bad enough to have him away from her on a daily basis, but to be deprived of him on the holidays that she cherished was even worse.

Unfortunately for him, Jeffrey was one too many for Natalia, and there was nothing merry about it in the least. Olivia might have been able to forgive him and make her peace with him, but she had barely had a chance to come to terms with what had happened. It wasn't fair to ask her to forgive him so easily and so quickly. Not after what he had done to Olivia. The ways that he had hurt her went far beyond skin deep, Natalia knew that better than anyone.

"Your daughter's beautiful," Jeffrey said as the moment stretched before them in silence. "They grow so fast, don't they?" he asked, his tone wistful, that of one parent to another. "I can't believe how much Colin has grown and changed." His expression grew darker. "I didn't think I would miss so much."

One part of Natalia told her to turn around and keep walking, say nothing to Jeffrey and pretend as if she didn't hate him, as if she didn't want to kick him out of her house right then and there. She didn't want him here in this place that was hers and Olivia's, their family's. In the end, the woman who had stood up to Ava and refused to let her treat Olivia horribly was the one who won.

"No," Natalia said simply. "You do not get to come in here and do this. You don't get to pretend that everything is fine." Her voice was rising with every word and people were starting to glance their way. Mindful of everyone's eyes, Natalia frowned and pushed him toward the front door. The late-autumn chill was keeping everyone else indoors and she wanted privacy for this conversation. This was not for anyone else's consumption or further fodder for the Springfield gossip mill. "Not here."

Without a word Jeffrey followed her until Frank, ever watchful, with Francesca curled up on one shoulder stepped out in front of them just as they were about to step outside, effectively blocking their path. Natalia's irritation grew instantly. She hadn't forgotten the role Frank had played in yesterday's events, dropping little hints about Olivia's past bad behavior into casual conversation with the sole intention of upsetting her and making things more difficult between them. It hadn't worked, although it had managed to stir up Olivia's insecurities, and Natalia had spent much time and thought trying to reassure her. She didn't appreciate what he had done in the least. It was petty and beneath the man she had almost married, the man she knew he could be.

"Everything okay here?" Frank asked, giving Jeffrey a searching look. "I'd hate to have to work on a holiday." Frank said it with a laugh but Natalia knew he meant it as a threat. Instead of making her feel safe or comforted, all it did was make her blood boil.

"It's fine, Frank," Natalia said, struggling to keep her voice calm, and not quite managing. "Jeffrey and I were just going to talk. Nothing you need to worry about."

Frank still looked undecided. Maybe he wasn't as oblivious to what she was thinking and feeling as he often seemed. Or maybe it was just selective. She wasn't sure.

"If you're sure," he said slowly, stepping back out of their way. "Just let me know if you need anything."

"Thank you, Frank," Natalia said as politely as she could manage, unable to resist reaching out to touch the back of Francesca's head, needing that momentary connection with her daughter. "But I'm sure if something comes up, Olivia and I can handle it." She smiled and for the first time since she started talking to him it was more real than forced or pointed. "We make a very good team."

"Right," Frank said, as if the word were almost painful for him to speak. "I'll just, uh," he gestured back toward the living room.

Natalia watched him walk away without any shift in her expression, not even giving him a polite smile, then shut the door firmly behind him. She knew Frank was only trying to be polite and take care of her in his own way, but it wasn't his place anymore. Not to mention that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She had raised her son in some of Chicago's not-so-nice neighborhood and managed to guide him through all of his childhood and adolescence there without trouble. It had been when they moved to Springfield when things had begun to go wrong. Funny, people always said small towns were so peaceful and a good place to raise children. Natalia was firmly of the opinion that the location had a lot less to do with it than the people who inhabited the place. Which brought her back to Jeffrey.

"Who invited you?"

"Olivia." Jeffrey looked faintly puzzled and Natalia knew it must seem odd from his perspective. They had been, if not friends, at least friendly acquaintances before he had been presumed dead and she had been grateful for everything that he had done to help Rafe. It was the kind of thing that went above and beyond what most people would do for someone who had hurt them. Now it seemed like the worst kind of hypocrisy, offering a helping hand to Rafe when his past hid secret sins worse than what Rafe had done.

"I know she wants to be friends with you for Ava's sake, but you're not welcome here," Natalia spoke bluntly.

"Because I did what I thought was best to protect my family? Just because Olivia doesn't agree with the choices that I made, it doesn't mean I didn't do the right thing when I went after Edmund."

Natalia made a slashing motion with her hand. "That doesn't matter. You can't change what's been done, whether it was right or not. All I can do is thank God that nothing happened to Emma and Ava."

Jeffrey frowned. "If you're not upset about Edmund, then what's going on here? I haven't even been here," he said with a low chuckle. "I couldn't have done anything else."

"Oh, you didn't have to be here to do anything, Jeffrey." Natalia said, wrapping her arms around her chest, her fingers clenching tightly around her arms in an attempt to keep herself in check. She was almost trembling from the intensity of the emotion surging through her. Not fear, but anger. "I know."

"You know... ?"

Natalia could see the exact moment he realized what she was talking about. He paled, the color leaving his face so abruptly that it almost looked like he was going to pass out.

"Natalia-"

"Be quiet," she said firmly. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say about this, Jeffrey." She took a deep breath. "I know what Olivia wants. I know that she wants you to know your daughter and be a part of her life, because she thinks Ava needs that. And, maybe she does. You helped my son - several times. Maybe you really are a good person now, or just a person, like the rest of us. But I don't care." She spaced the words out, emphasizing each one carefully. "I'm not going to cause a scene or kick you out, because this is obviously what Olivia wants for Ava, but know this: you are never again welcome in my home. What you did to Olivia is not okay. I don't care if she forgave you. It doesn't absolve you of what you did. You can't just erase the past because you regret it and I will never forgive you for what you did to her, how you made her feel. I will never forget it. You changed her life forever and you got away with it. Everyone thinks you're a good, upstanding man, while they sit back and judge her for her actions. It's not fair."

Without another word, Natalia turned, firmly putting her back to him with every intention of walking away and leaving him standing there. This was not a debate. She had said what she needed to say, and perhaps been nicer about it than she really wanted to be. Contempt was far too kind of a word for what she felt for the man she had once thought of as a good person and outstanding member of the community. Instead Natalia froze as she found herself looking directly into Ava's eyes. Her first instinct, the words on the tip of her tongue, was an apology. It was what she did when there were difficulties. She was always the first with a conciliatory word or gesture, but this time was different. This time it was in defense of Olivia and she refused to back down. But it was Olivia's daughter that stood in front of her, who would be most affected by her words if she had heard even part of what Natalia had said to Jeffery. From the sick and strained look on her face, it was very likely that she had. Natalia didn't need to hear it from Olivia's lips to know all the regrets she had about everything that had happened between she and Ava and the last thing she wanted to do was to make things worse between them. So she stood, frozen, waiting for someone to break the stalemate.

Jeffrey broke first. "Ava..."

"Can I speak to Natalia alone for a minute?" Ava's voice came out soft and trembling, so quiet that it would have been hard to hear her request if not for the deafening silence.

"Of course," Jeffrey said, jerking into motion after a slight delay, as if it had taken her words a moment to penetrate. He stopped beside her and reached to put a hand on her shoulder, only to stop in mid-motion. "I-"

But she shook her head. "Not now."

He gave a quick nod and ducked inside, leaving Natalia alone to face Ava. She braced herself for the worst, trying to decide how to plead her case. She wanted to make it clear that Olivia had nothing to do with what she'd said or even any knowledge of it - and Natalia would like to keep it that way - for a while anyway. She knew that Olivia would hate what she had done, protesting that she didn't need anyone's protection, certainly not at this late date. The last thing that she wanted to do was to make things worse between Olivia and Ava. She could be angry at Natalia all she wanted but Olivia had nothing to do with it.

"Thank you." Ava took a hesitant step toward her. "For standing up for her."

"I didn't mean-" Natalia blurted the words out before she had a chance to process what Ava had said. What she had intended wasn't an apology exactly, but damage control certainly. Ava's words were an immediate relief, but Natalia wanted - needed - to explain. She wanted to be more than just the person in Ava's mother's life; she wanted them to be a family. It was the only reason she felt the need to explain herself. "I want you to feel welcome here. Olivia loves you so much and I know you have your own life in San Francisco, but she really misses you. We both want you to be a part of this family." Natalia took a deep breath. "And if what I said to Jeffrey makes that harder, that wasn't what I intended."

"I always had this fantasy, you know," Ava said, her voice barely more than a whisper. "My parents back together, and us a family. A real family."

Natalia tried to tamp down the hurt and anger that Ava's statement provoked to hear what she was actually saying. In the year she and Olivia had been together, she had heard enough comments about how they weren't a real family, both deficient and perverse. While she lacked Olivia's flair in dealing with such situations, and she still preferred turning the other cheek to forcing a confrontation, she wouldn't let anyone talk about her family that way any longer. It certainly wasn't the kind of thing that she wanted Francesca to grow up hearing about her two mommies. She didn't think that was what Ava had meant by the comment, but people had a way of surprising her. Sometimes it was for the good; more often it was for the worst.

"Everyone wants that," Natalia said with a wistful smile. She certainly had. It had been something she had wanted for Rafe from the moment she had realized that Nicky was nowhere to be found and her parents were throwing her out into a world where she had no support system or comforting embrace to fall back into.

Ava nodded, tears beginning to glimmer in her eyes.

"I found out though, that that ideal of a family I had been chasing wasn't what I wanted at all." This time her smile was a little bit wry. "I found it in the heart of the woman who tried to steal my husband, who can make angrier than anyone I've ever met. Who loved me for who I was and who I could be, not just who she thought I should be." Every time she really thought about all the things that Olivia had done for her and been willing to do, it left her feeling stunned and a little bit overwhelmed. Not unlike how she felt when Olivia came home from a long day at the Beacon, one straining button holding the jacket over ample cleavage, hair slightly mussed from running her hands through it all day and pinned Natalia with a look that erased all coherent thought. Now, however, was not the time for following that train of thought.

"I don't know what I should do," Ava said, the words coming out quickly before she could think better of them. "I know he hurt her; I know that. But he has always, always been there for me, whenever I needed it. Even when I didn't want it. It hurt so much, thinking I had lost him this year." She looked up at Natalia with pleading eyes. "I don't know that I can cut him out of my life."

Normally Natalia knew what needed to be said in any given situation. She tried to live her life by what she had been taught in the Church and what she had always believed to be right or wrong. When she didn't, she prayed for guidance. Sometimes it seemed as if that prayer wasn't immediately answered, but most of the time, it was more a matter of not looking hard enough for the answer. This time was different. The things she knew she needed to say weren't coming to her lips. For the first time, forgiveness wasn't so easy. What she wanted, however, was to protect Olivia and letting her anger at Jeffrey stand in front of everything else wouldn't do that. It would only succeed at hurting Ava and eventually, Olivia too. Maybe that was what Olivia had been asking of her, not to let this rule their life.

Natalia drew in a deep breath. Maybe Olivia was right. Letting Jeffrey hurt Olivia any more was the last thing she wanted and if she kept going down this path, that was what would happen. Hurting Ava would hurt Olivia too and eventually it would stand between them just as Rafe's anger had for months. She didn't want to go through that again. After all, it wasn't Ava's fault that Jeffrey was her father. She had no control over that; she was just playing the hand she had been dealt. Natalia could certainly understand that.

"Olivia isn't asking you to do that," Natalia said, gentling her voice. "She doesn't even want you to."

"Yesterday-" Ava started, only to have Natalia cut her off.

"She was angry that you were in danger. That Jeffrey was the one to place you and Emma in danger. There's a difference."

"What about you?" Ava asked. "You would probably love it if I cut him out of my life."

"I've never been an angry or vengeful person," Natalia said slowly, feeling her way to what she wanted to say even as she spoke. "But when I found out what he had done to Olivia, I was angry, so angry that someone would do that to her. That it was someone who had been invited into our home and had always been treated like a friend. It felt like a betrayal. I can't even imagine how she feels. She doesn't want me to be angry, and she's right. I can't practice what I believe just when it's easy or comfortable. It doesn't work that way. So I will forgive him, but I won't forget. Olivia needs someone who is always on her side and she needs a home - a place that hers and safe, where she can always feel comfortable. That's why I said he wasn't welcome here anymore. Because I will always be that person and she will always have that place wherever we are together.

It doesn't have anything to do with you though," Natalia continued. "He's your father and it seems like he's always been a good father. That doesn't have to change. I wouldn't want it to."

"Are you- are you sure?" Ava asked, a hiccuping sob in her voice.

Natalia's brow furrowed. "Why does it matter so much what I think?"

"Because it matters to her," Ava said, tilting her head back toward the house.

"I think," Natalia said. "That we both want you to be happy." She touched Ava's cheek lightly. "So go talk to your father."

"He's not-"

"No," Natalia said with a shake of her head. "Olivia invited him for you and I'm not going to kick him out, not today. So go tell him you're happy he's alive. I don't think he's been hearing as much of that as he hoped." Privately, Natalia didn't have much sympathy for him, but she did know what it was like to come back to a situation that was nothing like the expectations.

With a rueful huff of air, Ava swiped at her eyes. "I'm such a mess."

"No," Natalia said gently, but firmly. "You're not. You're just like your mother. You'll be fine."

Comments

[tanama30.livejournal.com]

an emotional chapter. some truths were said and some compromses were done all for your kids. powerful update. great job i can't wait for more update soon

[wkgreen.livejournal.com]

Love protective Natalia! Love how Natalia stands up for Olivia. Might have been a bit harsh with Jeffery, but he does deserve it. And she had only found out the other day, I imagine she wouldn't have been so harsh if she had a bit more time to process things.

Waiting for more. :)

[bsofthewest.livejournal.com]

"Not unlike how she felt when Olivia came home from a long day at the Beacon, one straining button holding the jacket over ample cleavage, hair slightly mussed from running her hands through it all day and pinned Natalia with a look that erased all coherent thought. Now, however, was not the time for following that train of thought."
I just think that this is wonderful. How grand to have love like that!

[ceridwyn2.livejournal.com]

Wow. Intense. I SO loved Natalia standing up to Jeffrey. That was brilliantly done.

I also loved the conversation between Natalia and Ava.

Thank you

[harrherm.livejournal.com]

Another lovely chapter.
Can’t wait till Natalia and Olivia chat.

I loved Natalia’s ferocity towards Jeffery. I’ve seen to many fics where she’s angry at first, then gets over it. And I kind of find it annoying. So bravo.
Her intense hate toward him is completely reasonable and still very in character, which your words about forgiving but not forgetting, and not wanting him in their home, but trying not to hurt Olivia pointed out.

[jone1979.livejournal.com]

wow, well done!! Always love to see the protective side of Natalia, she is just as fierce as Liv when it comes to there love, well now anyways. Can't wait for their conversation, thanks for the update, love the way you write!!

[kiranerys101.livejournal.com]

Wonderful chapter.

Loved the interaction between the three women. They're all so darn special. *sigh*

[ttandme69.livejournal.com]

wow...so many emotions in this chapter...brillant! Loved how Nat told Frank that she and Olivia would take care of anything....they were a team! Go Nat! Standing up to Jeffrey for the hurt he caused Olivia...bravo! Ava...that was a great scene w/Nat and the love they have for Olivia! Eagerly awaiting the next chapter...thanks, Lisa

[triggerhappy.livejournal.com]

Wonderful chapter. And wow, what Olivia is really to do and put herself through for her kids is amazing.

However...she so deserves to be in at least a little bit of trouble for not telling Natalia. It leaves me shaking my head at her, kind of wanting to smack her upside the head, and laugh at the same time. Such a silly thing to do, and yet...such an Olivia thing to do.
Ultimately it leaves me kind of sad though - because it strikes me as an example of how very damaged she is, that I don't think Olivia really gets how upset Natalia will be on her behalf.

Love the talk between Natalia and Ava, too.

[ariestess]

A rough chapter, but definitely a necessary one.

Nicely done!