Lego Houses
Show: Young and the Restless
Central character: Victoria Newman
Summary: If things go wrong, we can knock it down. / Or, Victoria seeing in the miraculous present in an uncertain future.
Notes: I've had the name picked out for three years and well, it fit in this circumstance. It's my first Victoria piece in a while, so I'm a little rusty. This is just the product of my imagination and a teeny tiny bit of spoilers.
Disclaimer: This is not my mine. I'm not writing this for any profit whatsoever.
/
I'm gonna pick up the pieces,
And build a Lego house
-Lego Houses, Ed Sheeran
Victoria remembers the sunsets in Florence.
She remembers walking along the cobblestone streets of Florence and her blue eyes seeing the prominent done of the Duomo ahead. Victoria remembers taking in the art and the beauty of it all at the Palazzo Vecchio. The churches and cathedrals radiate with a presence that could very well be of God himself. The smell of incense permeates through and Victoria takes in the flickering candles – each of them representing a prayer, a wish, a dream in transit.
As she is here with this beautiful, living breathing person, Victoria thinks this is the best masterpiece ever made. This, in her arms, in the most breathtaking person she ever meets. It's not art done with the imagination, inspiration and a paintbrush. It's a miraculous kind of art done with quiet hope and sheer force of will.
Victoria holds her newborn daughter in her arms and it's just the two of them. Abby leaves to spread the news about "her gorgeous niece". Abby is…Abby, but she's been wonderful throughout this whole thing, the best birth coach ever.
She watches her daughter sleep, and coo in between. She could do this forever. The baby's eyes are closed, and her lips – which Victoria is sure come from her – are formed in a pout. It's like a puzzle, trying to figure who she resembles the most. Could her ears be just like Ben's? Could her chin be the Abbott one, Delia and Johnny both inherit from their grandfather? Could this baby have a twinkle in her eyes like Billy and a smile like Ben's? She is positive the baby's nose is from her, but then again, she can't be sure. She isn't sure of much these days in all honesty.
There are a lot of maybes, but here is what Victoria knows, as this little girl grips her pinkie finger in her little grasp: Victoria is the mother of this baby and this is her daughter, her miracle.
/
Victoria names her daughter, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Nicole.
Her first name means oath. It means promise. It means days ahead that will be good, and days that she wants to forget. It means a family picture that will be bent and fragmented, but will have a lot of love at the center of it all.
So, Elizabeth Nicole, it is. Elizabeth Nicole, her baby girl swaddled in pink will stay.
"Hey, Elizabeth… It's your mommy. We did it. You and me," Victoria's voice is soft, as she entrusts her daughter with another secret she will never remember. She strokes the curve of Elizabeth's cheek like it's precious metal. "No matter who is your daddy, he will love you and you'll have a good life. I still promise you, baby girl."
Elizabeth will have grandparents, aunts, uncles, instant buddies in her cousins and two big brothers that will give her a hard time but will protect her. A twinge of familiarity strikes Victoria because she knows what it's like to be a protective big sister. But Victoria is figuring what it means to be someone's little sister. Dylan is still navigating this new territory with her, but she is glad he is her brother. The new rocking chair in the just-finished nursery is lovely. She also knows what it means to have a little sibling and to be protective of them.
Victoria remembers the contractions, and the pain. She remembers both Billy and Ben and locking gazes with them both as she is wheeled away. She remembers, trying to breathe through a particular set of intense contractions as Abby feeds her ice chips. She remembers threads of worry – for herself and her child – being yanked in her brain. She remembers the pushing and she remembers the beset sound ever: gargling and then loud cries as her chid take the first of many breaths.
But most of all, Victoria remembers the secret. She remembers the confession that is really the truth, because she feels deep in her gut that it is. Victoria remembers it rattling around in her brain, but the child in her arms now is her priority for now.
/
"Yes, there's my bright eyed girl…"
Elizabeth opens her eyes, the brightest blue eyes she ever sees, and in that instant, this sweet, innocent child has Victoria's heart in her tiny grasp and doesn't let go.
With all my heart, baby girl, Victoria thinks with unshed tears of happiness and relief in her blue eyes, I will love you forever and a day.
/
Author's Note: I finally finished this, and now it's posted. I'm just going on my feelings and writing how I feel. I feel like the bonding moments between a mother and her baby are special ones so Victoria is having it with her newborn daughter. I don't know if the baby is really a girl, but here, it is. I don't know who the father and that isn't revealed here. As I mentioned above, I'm a bit rusty so I hope you can be gentle. I'm writing something Sticky related set to Bastille's Flaws next. Heads up.