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Title: Of Shrimp and Lobsters
Fandom: Guiding Light & Venice
Characters: Olivia Spencer, Natalia Rivera, Gina Brogno, Ani Martin
Category: Humor, Romance
Rating: R, for use of the f-word.
Word count: 2,087
Summary: Sometimes fate has something in store for you, other than what you planned.
Spoilers/Timeline For the purposes of this fic, assume it takes place some time in early 2011. It's based on speculation about Venice Season 2, but consider anything that comes before 2011 to be fair game, spoiler wise.
Disclaimer: All characters (Olivia Spencer, Natalia Rivera, blah blah etc.) and situations belong to Guiding Light, Telenext, Proctor & Gamble, etc. I'm not them. Same goes for Gina Brogno and Ani Martin, whom I'm borrowing from Venice and Open Book Productions.
Author's Note: I...don't remember how I came up with this idea, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
I'm not promising anything this time, but probably daily posts! I do have everything all written!
Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five || Part Six
Part Seven
There was a knock on the door. Gina groaned, burying her face in Ani's neck. Ani whimpered, pulling the covers up further over her head and nudged Gina.
"'s too early," Gina slurred, hanging on tighter to Ani.
"You're closer," Ani countered.
"Fine," Gina huffed, throwing the covers off and marching toward the door.
Ani giggled. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she called after Gina.
Gina hesitated, turning with her hand already on the door handle. "What?"
"Clothes?" Ani prompted her.
Gina glanced down, noting her nakedness for the first time, and then glanced back up at Ani. "It's not funny," she growled.
"Kinda is," Ani corrected her, flopping over so that she was laying on her back as Gina stalked back toward the bed. "Hey, what are you doing?" she protested as Gina grabbed the comforter and tugged.
"Getting dressed," Gina said simply. "Someone stole my robe."
Ani shook her head. "I don't even know where to start with that. Go answer the door," she said, nudging Gina away with a push of her foot against Gina's thigh. "And then come back and warm me up. I'm getting cold."
For a second Gina looked like she would ignore the door altogether, but finally, reluctantly, she tore herself away and opened the door.
"Uh, hi," Gina said. In its own way, it was still just as disorienting to see Natalia at the door as it had been to run into her in the hall yesterday, especially having just left Ani in their bed.
"Good morning," Natalia said with a cheerful smile. "I'm sorry, I was trying not to come by too early."
Gina shrugged. "It's the time difference." No matter that she and Ani probably would have still been in bed if they'd been back in Venice Beach, at least on a rare day off like this one. Her brain started to work again. If it was a day off. "Actually it's probably a good thing. We were originally supposed to be here on business. If the roads are passable or the airport's been dug out...." Gina said, hoping she'd have good news to bring back to Ani.
But Natalia just shook her head. "Sorry, not yet. Actually it's still snowing a little out there."
"Fucking great," Gina muttered under her breath. She caught Natalia's dark look and shrugged. "Sorry." She resisted the urge to glance over her shoulder. Ani would be laughing her ass off if she'd heard that.
But Natalia seemed more amused than upset. "I'm sorry this weather has disrupted your plans, but when I told Olivia about the two of you last night, she didn't really believe me. She thought I was exaggerating, so she wants to meet you herself. Would the two of you be interested in brunch?"
This time Gina did glance back at Ani, looking so tempting wrapped in nothing more than the sheet. Anything that involved leaving the room - the bed - sounded like a horrible idea, but Natalia was responsible for getting Ani to forgive her and realize that Gina had done nothing wrong. It felt like she owed Natalia something, and besides Gina had to admit that she was a little bit curious too about this couple who looked so much like them.
"Okay, thank you," Gina said with a genuine smile. "We'll be there."
*** *** ***
"Hi!" Natalia called out cheerfully, rising from beside Olivia to greet Gina and Ani. It took Olivia a moment longer to stand up. Natalia had told her that this couple bore a striking resemblance to them, but seeing them together was more than a little bit disorienting. And a striking resemblance was putting it mildly. They could have been identical twins. Olivia shook her head as she stood. It was just too weird.
Natalia hugged Gina, the surprised woman hugging her back awkwardly. Olivia couldn't help but feeling a little bit grumpy, defensive. She wished Natalia would stop hugging.
"Hi, I'm Ani." And suddenly the moment got stranger, as this woman who looked so much like her Natalia held her hand out to Olivia. Slightly dazed, Olivia took her hand, noting as she did that they had the same dimples.
"Olivia," she introduced herself. "It's nice to meet you." She couldn't help the way her eyes slid up and down Ani's body. It wasn't checking her out exactly. It was just that she looked so similar to Natalia, that the little differences intrigued her. Olivia jerked her eyes away when she realized she had been staring and found Gina watching her, an unhappy hint of something in her eyes as she looked at Olivia. Olivia just shrugged and held out her hand.
Gina took it slowly, warily. Their hands met, both shaking with a firm grip. There was a brief moment where it could have turned into a challenge, a pissing contest, and then the faintest smiled quirked over the corner of Olivia's mouth. Gina smiled back and the tension was broken.
"You have a lovely hotel here," Gina said, her first words letting Olivia relax.
"Thank you. It's not as big as some, but I think that's part of its charm - the personal touches."
Both women turned just in time to see Natalia hug Ani in greeting. For a moment they both stood frozen, stunned. Olivia was the first to blink, her eyes darting away from the scene in front of them. She couldn't help the thought that had crossed her mind. It was jarring. Since she had moved back in to the farmhouse, she had never seriously considered another person. Natalia was everything that she could have wanted, as a partner and as a lover. There was no reason for her to look elsewhere. But when Natalia stood there, hugging someone who looked incredibly like the woman that she loved, well she couldn't help it if she went there just for an instant. Olivia was in love, not blind.
For a second time, Gina caught her gaze. "Busted," she mouthed the word. Low enough, Olivia noted, that neither Ani nor Natalia could hear.
Olivia sidled closer to her. "Oh, like you weren't thinking it too."
"I admit nothing," Gina countered.
"Are you two arguing already?" Natalia asked, sounding faintly amused.
"Of course not," Olivia said.
"Never," Gina agreed, shaking her head.
Natalia let out a sigh and shared a conspiratorial glance with Ani. "I can see these two are going to be trouble."
"Like she needs more help causing trouble," Ani said, folding her arms over her chest. "She seems to find plenty of it on her own."
Gina snorted, moving back to stand beside Ani and slipping an arm around her waist. "Admit it. That's one of your favorite things about me. You like it when I'm bad," she added, nuzzling into Ani's neck and dropping a kiss just below her ear.
"Keep telling yourself that," Ani retorted, but her body told another story entirely as she melted into Gina's embrace, staying as close as they could even as they all settled in around the table. "I just wanted to say thank you, again, for all of your help yesterday," Ani said, touching Natalia's hand briefly across the table. "I know we were kind of a mess."
Natalia smiled. "It's no problem. We've all been there at one point or another."
"So how did you two meet?" Gina asked, trying to shift the focus away from them and onto the other couple. It might not have been the smoothest transition ever, but then subtlety wasn't really her strong point.
Natalia choked on her coffee and Olivia froze. Ani and Gina traded a quick glance; Gina shrugged. It had been an innocent enough question. It was so not her fault if she had somehow brought up an uncomfortable question.
"You don't have to answer that," Ani stepped in quickly. "She's just being nosy."
"No," Natalia said, finally regaining her voice. "It's no problem. We, uh, well, actually..."
"I tried to steal her husband and then when he died in a motorcycle accident, I got his heart because of some health issues I was having. Then Natalia nursed me back to health." Olivia stirred the last of the cream into her coffee cup and then glanced up. "Anyone need the sugar?"
Gina was the first to recover. "Uh, so you were married before?" she asked, directing the question at Natalia.
"B-both of us have been actually," Natalia stammered a little, trying to regain her mental footing. She had never thought about it quite that bluntly.
Olivia arched an eyebrow. "That's what you got out of that whole explanation? That we'd been married. Personally I would have focused on the part about the heart transplant or how I was after her husband. Much more interesting," she said conspiratorially.
"Olivia," Natalia said, giving her knee a warning squeeze. "She didn't know. She didn't mean anything by it."
Underneath the table, Ani nudged Gina with her foot. Gina shot her an indignant glance, but jumped back into the conversation. "No, I was just surprised to hear that you'd been married to a man before. You two look so together."
That time it was Natalia who smiled. "Thank you. We just celebrated our second anniversary." She shot a teasing glance over at Olivia who had started to relax again. "Although we can't quite agree when our anniversary actually is."
"Oh?" Ani asked.
"I say its the day we told each other how we felt about one another, but she says it should be the first time we went away together."
"Why not celebrate both?" Ani suggested. "That way you don't have to choose."
"You know," Olivia said. "I think that's an excellent idea."
"Twice as many dates to forget," Natalia pointed out practically.
"But double the celebration," Olivia said gently, her thumb stroking over the back of Natalia's hand.
Natalia smiled, leaning over to kiss her gently. "I think I could live with that."
"Until we're old and gray and wearing matching jogging suits?" Olivia teased.
"Until then and longer," Natalia agreed. She tugged lightly at Olivia's hair. "Not that you'll ever let this go gray."
"I hope not," Gina interjected from the other side of the table. "Can't have you running around making people think I'm old."
"Trust me," Ani said. "No one who's ever met you would think you were...mature."
"Ah!" Gina gasped. "Do you see what I have to put up with?"
Olivia eyed her for a moment. "Something tells me you love every second of it." Their gazes locked for an instant, a moment of perfect understanding passing between them.
"You might be right about that," Gina admitted, with a smile and uncharacteristic simplicity. If nothing else this weekend had made her less inclined to hold back. She had come so close to losing Ani through a misunderstanding. It was almost unbearable to think about.
Olivia cleared her throat, feeling for Gina. She had seen the naked emotion in Gina's eyes and it had reminded her uncomfortably of the way she had felt after Natalia had come back from the retreat, scared and uncertain. "So what do you do for a living?" she asked in an attempt to change the subject. "Natalia said you were here on business."
"Actually Ani was the one had a meeting here. Well, in Chicago actually. The weather diverted our flight. She's a photographer," Gina said, her pride in Ani obvious in the warmth of her voice.
"That sounds like a lot of fun," Natalia said.
"It can be," Ani agreed with a nod. "Most of the time, I love what I do."
"That's great."
"I think so," Ani said. "Actually we met on a photo shoot I was doing for a hotel that Gina was working for."
"Oh, you're in the industry?" Olivia asked, her attention shifting back to Gina.
"Not quite like you mean. I'm an interior designer."
"Really?" Olivia asked, her eyebrows shooting up once more. "We should talk before you leave. I'm turning The Beacon into a franchise and we might be able to come up with a mutually beneficial arrangement."
"You haven't even seen my work yet," Gina said, automatically switching to business mode.
"You're right, but I'm sure we can fix that."
They were interrupted by the waiter asking for their orders, but once he was gone the easy flow of conversation resumed until the strangeness of it was almost forgotten, all except for the occasional glances of other startled diners as they walked past and did a double take.
Fandom: Guiding Light & Venice
Characters: Olivia Spencer, Natalia Rivera, Gina Brogno, Ani Martin
Category: Humor, Romance
Rating: R, for use of the f-word.
Word count: 2,087
Summary: Sometimes fate has something in store for you, other than what you planned.
Spoilers/Timeline For the purposes of this fic, assume it takes place some time in early 2011. It's based on speculation about Venice Season 2, but consider anything that comes before 2011 to be fair game, spoiler wise.
Disclaimer: All characters (Olivia Spencer, Natalia Rivera, blah blah etc.) and situations belong to Guiding Light, Telenext, Proctor & Gamble, etc. I'm not them. Same goes for Gina Brogno and Ani Martin, whom I'm borrowing from Venice and Open Book Productions.
Author's Note: I...don't remember how I came up with this idea, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
I'm not promising anything this time, but probably daily posts! I do have everything all written!
Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five || Part Six
Part Seven
There was a knock on the door. Gina groaned, burying her face in Ani's neck. Ani whimpered, pulling the covers up further over her head and nudged Gina.
"'s too early," Gina slurred, hanging on tighter to Ani.
"You're closer," Ani countered.
"Fine," Gina huffed, throwing the covers off and marching toward the door.
Ani giggled. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she called after Gina.
Gina hesitated, turning with her hand already on the door handle. "What?"
"Clothes?" Ani prompted her.
Gina glanced down, noting her nakedness for the first time, and then glanced back up at Ani. "It's not funny," she growled.
"Kinda is," Ani corrected her, flopping over so that she was laying on her back as Gina stalked back toward the bed. "Hey, what are you doing?" she protested as Gina grabbed the comforter and tugged.
"Getting dressed," Gina said simply. "Someone stole my robe."
Ani shook her head. "I don't even know where to start with that. Go answer the door," she said, nudging Gina away with a push of her foot against Gina's thigh. "And then come back and warm me up. I'm getting cold."
For a second Gina looked like she would ignore the door altogether, but finally, reluctantly, she tore herself away and opened the door.
"Uh, hi," Gina said. In its own way, it was still just as disorienting to see Natalia at the door as it had been to run into her in the hall yesterday, especially having just left Ani in their bed.
"Good morning," Natalia said with a cheerful smile. "I'm sorry, I was trying not to come by too early."
Gina shrugged. "It's the time difference." No matter that she and Ani probably would have still been in bed if they'd been back in Venice Beach, at least on a rare day off like this one. Her brain started to work again. If it was a day off. "Actually it's probably a good thing. We were originally supposed to be here on business. If the roads are passable or the airport's been dug out...." Gina said, hoping she'd have good news to bring back to Ani.
But Natalia just shook her head. "Sorry, not yet. Actually it's still snowing a little out there."
"Fucking great," Gina muttered under her breath. She caught Natalia's dark look and shrugged. "Sorry." She resisted the urge to glance over her shoulder. Ani would be laughing her ass off if she'd heard that.
But Natalia seemed more amused than upset. "I'm sorry this weather has disrupted your plans, but when I told Olivia about the two of you last night, she didn't really believe me. She thought I was exaggerating, so she wants to meet you herself. Would the two of you be interested in brunch?"
This time Gina did glance back at Ani, looking so tempting wrapped in nothing more than the sheet. Anything that involved leaving the room - the bed - sounded like a horrible idea, but Natalia was responsible for getting Ani to forgive her and realize that Gina had done nothing wrong. It felt like she owed Natalia something, and besides Gina had to admit that she was a little bit curious too about this couple who looked so much like them.
"Okay, thank you," Gina said with a genuine smile. "We'll be there."
*** *** ***
"Hi!" Natalia called out cheerfully, rising from beside Olivia to greet Gina and Ani. It took Olivia a moment longer to stand up. Natalia had told her that this couple bore a striking resemblance to them, but seeing them together was more than a little bit disorienting. And a striking resemblance was putting it mildly. They could have been identical twins. Olivia shook her head as she stood. It was just too weird.
Natalia hugged Gina, the surprised woman hugging her back awkwardly. Olivia couldn't help but feeling a little bit grumpy, defensive. She wished Natalia would stop hugging.
"Hi, I'm Ani." And suddenly the moment got stranger, as this woman who looked so much like her Natalia held her hand out to Olivia. Slightly dazed, Olivia took her hand, noting as she did that they had the same dimples.
"Olivia," she introduced herself. "It's nice to meet you." She couldn't help the way her eyes slid up and down Ani's body. It wasn't checking her out exactly. It was just that she looked so similar to Natalia, that the little differences intrigued her. Olivia jerked her eyes away when she realized she had been staring and found Gina watching her, an unhappy hint of something in her eyes as she looked at Olivia. Olivia just shrugged and held out her hand.
Gina took it slowly, warily. Their hands met, both shaking with a firm grip. There was a brief moment where it could have turned into a challenge, a pissing contest, and then the faintest smiled quirked over the corner of Olivia's mouth. Gina smiled back and the tension was broken.
"You have a lovely hotel here," Gina said, her first words letting Olivia relax.
"Thank you. It's not as big as some, but I think that's part of its charm - the personal touches."
Both women turned just in time to see Natalia hug Ani in greeting. For a moment they both stood frozen, stunned. Olivia was the first to blink, her eyes darting away from the scene in front of them. She couldn't help the thought that had crossed her mind. It was jarring. Since she had moved back in to the farmhouse, she had never seriously considered another person. Natalia was everything that she could have wanted, as a partner and as a lover. There was no reason for her to look elsewhere. But when Natalia stood there, hugging someone who looked incredibly like the woman that she loved, well she couldn't help it if she went there just for an instant. Olivia was in love, not blind.
For a second time, Gina caught her gaze. "Busted," she mouthed the word. Low enough, Olivia noted, that neither Ani nor Natalia could hear.
Olivia sidled closer to her. "Oh, like you weren't thinking it too."
"I admit nothing," Gina countered.
"Are you two arguing already?" Natalia asked, sounding faintly amused.
"Of course not," Olivia said.
"Never," Gina agreed, shaking her head.
Natalia let out a sigh and shared a conspiratorial glance with Ani. "I can see these two are going to be trouble."
"Like she needs more help causing trouble," Ani said, folding her arms over her chest. "She seems to find plenty of it on her own."
Gina snorted, moving back to stand beside Ani and slipping an arm around her waist. "Admit it. That's one of your favorite things about me. You like it when I'm bad," she added, nuzzling into Ani's neck and dropping a kiss just below her ear.
"Keep telling yourself that," Ani retorted, but her body told another story entirely as she melted into Gina's embrace, staying as close as they could even as they all settled in around the table. "I just wanted to say thank you, again, for all of your help yesterday," Ani said, touching Natalia's hand briefly across the table. "I know we were kind of a mess."
Natalia smiled. "It's no problem. We've all been there at one point or another."
"So how did you two meet?" Gina asked, trying to shift the focus away from them and onto the other couple. It might not have been the smoothest transition ever, but then subtlety wasn't really her strong point.
Natalia choked on her coffee and Olivia froze. Ani and Gina traded a quick glance; Gina shrugged. It had been an innocent enough question. It was so not her fault if she had somehow brought up an uncomfortable question.
"You don't have to answer that," Ani stepped in quickly. "She's just being nosy."
"No," Natalia said, finally regaining her voice. "It's no problem. We, uh, well, actually..."
"I tried to steal her husband and then when he died in a motorcycle accident, I got his heart because of some health issues I was having. Then Natalia nursed me back to health." Olivia stirred the last of the cream into her coffee cup and then glanced up. "Anyone need the sugar?"
Gina was the first to recover. "Uh, so you were married before?" she asked, directing the question at Natalia.
"B-both of us have been actually," Natalia stammered a little, trying to regain her mental footing. She had never thought about it quite that bluntly.
Olivia arched an eyebrow. "That's what you got out of that whole explanation? That we'd been married. Personally I would have focused on the part about the heart transplant or how I was after her husband. Much more interesting," she said conspiratorially.
"Olivia," Natalia said, giving her knee a warning squeeze. "She didn't know. She didn't mean anything by it."
Underneath the table, Ani nudged Gina with her foot. Gina shot her an indignant glance, but jumped back into the conversation. "No, I was just surprised to hear that you'd been married to a man before. You two look so together."
That time it was Natalia who smiled. "Thank you. We just celebrated our second anniversary." She shot a teasing glance over at Olivia who had started to relax again. "Although we can't quite agree when our anniversary actually is."
"Oh?" Ani asked.
"I say its the day we told each other how we felt about one another, but she says it should be the first time we went away together."
"Why not celebrate both?" Ani suggested. "That way you don't have to choose."
"You know," Olivia said. "I think that's an excellent idea."
"Twice as many dates to forget," Natalia pointed out practically.
"But double the celebration," Olivia said gently, her thumb stroking over the back of Natalia's hand.
Natalia smiled, leaning over to kiss her gently. "I think I could live with that."
"Until we're old and gray and wearing matching jogging suits?" Olivia teased.
"Until then and longer," Natalia agreed. She tugged lightly at Olivia's hair. "Not that you'll ever let this go gray."
"I hope not," Gina interjected from the other side of the table. "Can't have you running around making people think I'm old."
"Trust me," Ani said. "No one who's ever met you would think you were...mature."
"Ah!" Gina gasped. "Do you see what I have to put up with?"
Olivia eyed her for a moment. "Something tells me you love every second of it." Their gazes locked for an instant, a moment of perfect understanding passing between them.
"You might be right about that," Gina admitted, with a smile and uncharacteristic simplicity. If nothing else this weekend had made her less inclined to hold back. She had come so close to losing Ani through a misunderstanding. It was almost unbearable to think about.
Olivia cleared her throat, feeling for Gina. She had seen the naked emotion in Gina's eyes and it had reminded her uncomfortably of the way she had felt after Natalia had come back from the retreat, scared and uncertain. "So what do you do for a living?" she asked in an attempt to change the subject. "Natalia said you were here on business."
"Actually Ani was the one had a meeting here. Well, in Chicago actually. The weather diverted our flight. She's a photographer," Gina said, her pride in Ani obvious in the warmth of her voice.
"That sounds like a lot of fun," Natalia said.
"It can be," Ani agreed with a nod. "Most of the time, I love what I do."
"That's great."
"I think so," Ani said. "Actually we met on a photo shoot I was doing for a hotel that Gina was working for."
"Oh, you're in the industry?" Olivia asked, her attention shifting back to Gina.
"Not quite like you mean. I'm an interior designer."
"Really?" Olivia asked, her eyebrows shooting up once more. "We should talk before you leave. I'm turning The Beacon into a franchise and we might be able to come up with a mutually beneficial arrangement."
"You haven't even seen my work yet," Gina said, automatically switching to business mode.
"You're right, but I'm sure we can fix that."
They were interrupted by the waiter asking for their orders, but once he was gone the easy flow of conversation resumed until the strangeness of it was almost forgotten, all except for the occasional glances of other startled diners as they walked past and did a double take.
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