Title: A Little Help

Summary: Emma Spencer is a cheeky little little one, and she thinks she knows what's best for her 'two mommies'.
Pairing: Natalia/Olivia
Disclaimers: Don't own any of these characters, CBS, P&G, etc. do (as well as the WB and NBC) I'm just playin' with 'em and will put them back when done.

"Mommy, are you angry at me?"

Olivia Spencer winced and rolled to a sitting position on the couch. Emma was home. "What, no baby." Her eye caught the cross and she cleared her throat. "Did you have a fun sleepover with Derrick?"

Emma sighed and climbed onto the sofa next to Olivia. "His big brother made fun of you and Nat. What's a... a... lesbo?"

Olivia let out a breath. "I think he was using it as a pejorative term." Emma blinked at her mother, confused and Olivia smiled. "It's a shorter version of the word lesbian. Do you know what a lesbian is?"

Emma frowned for a moment and then nodded. "A lady who loves another lady?"

"Yes." Olivia trailed off and let Emma think. She was a smart little girl. Olivia wasn't sure if Emma would make the connection between her 'My Two Mommies' presentation and lesbians or not, but Olivia was going to go slowly with the conversation, let Emma lead it a bit.

"Are you and Natalia lesbians?"

"No, no, we're not."

Emma frowned again, "Then why would Derrick's brother say that?"

Olivia bit the bullet. "I think it may have been because of your beautiful presentation about us. Derrick may have told him about it, and some people may have thought that you meant we were..."

Emma looked aghast and pulled away from Olivia, "I didn't, I didn't..."

Olivia pulled her daughter back into her arms and squeezed the young child tightly. She kissed the top of her daughter's head. "I know, so does Natalia. We know exactly what you meant. Don't worry honey."

"Promise?"

Emma looked up at her mother with wide eyes. "I promise. We both loved your presentation and are so proud that your teacher wants you to present it again for even more people."

Olivia could feel as Emma relaxed in her arms, "I love you Mommy."

Olivia closed her eyes, "And I love you Em."

Olivia had nearly drifted off. She hadn't gotten much sleep on the couch. She kept telling herself that it was because the sofa was uncomfortable, not because Natalia hadn't come back after her date with Frank.

"It's okay."

Olivia blinked the sleep out of her eyes, "What Emma?"

"If you, like Natalia, like people thought, it's okay."

Olivia kissed the top of Emma's head again, "Let's go have some pancakes."

"Natalia's going to make them?"

Olivia stood with narrowed eyes, "I have been known to bake."

Emma put her hand over her mouth, trying, unsuccessfully to stifle her laugh, "Cook."

"Cook, bake. Let us to the kitchen."

"Ms. Rivera? I thought that only Ms. Spencer pulled all nighters here at The Beacon?"

Natalia rubbed the back of her neck. "I had things to do and things to think about. We have the Dentists coming in next week."

The young man in the doorway smiled. "Ah, they're easy. Now, the Librarians..." He shook his head, "They go crazy."

Natalia chuckled, "Whatever you say. Was there something you needed?"

The young man nodded, "We have a... situation in one of the rooms."

Natalia stood and came around the desk. "Lead the way."

Natalia knocked on the door once, and again. She waited. It was quiet, much quieter than the other guests had said it had been minutes before. She knocked again, "Hello. Hotel management."

The door finally opened and Natalia took a involuntary step backward. The woman who opened the door was tall and very, very blonde. She wore a pink silk robe that was just long enough to be considered good taste. "Hey, is there something I can do for you?"

Natalia raised an eyebrow, "There have been complaints about excessive noise. If you and your husband could keep it down."

The blonde smiled, "Ah, no husband, but my partner and I will be quieter. And, if you would apologize to those who were affected. We were..." She crossed her arms over her chest. "We're on vacation, and we were... reconnecting."

"Kim..." A redheaded woman poked her head around the door frame. "Ah, hello. We are sorry, and were planning on checking out later today anyway." The redhead frowned at Natalia, "Young lady, are you okay?"

Natalia blinked and blinked and put her hand on the door frame. "Uh..."

"Kim."

The blonde caught Natalia just before she hit the floor. As if they did it everyday the redhead moved back as the blonde brought Natalia into the room and sat her down in the desk chair. "Head between your legs, okay, and slow breaths."

Natalia did what she was told and after a moment she felt a cold cloth against her forehead. She looked up, "I'm sorry..." She tried to stand, but the blonde put a hand on her shoulder. "Stay sitting for a second."

Natalia did. She looked between the blonde and redhead. "You two are gay, but you knew it, right, from the time you were kids?"

The blonde nodded, but Natalia was surprised when a smile came to the redhead's face. She spoke, "Actually, I didn't realize that I had a soft spot for the ladies until a few years ago."

Natalia blinked in surprise, "Really?"

The blonde and redhead stood next to each other, looking totally at ease. It was the blonde who spoke, "Sexuality is like the brain. We think that we know a whole lot about it, a big honkin' lot, but then, everyday we find something new that we really have no clue about."

Natalia frowned as the redhead rolled her eyes at her partner and spoke, "What the vague princess means is that it's complicated. I was married, I loved him. I've loved more than one man, and more recently I've loved other women. Does that make me mostly a lesbian, mostly straight, bisexual. There is never a right answer other than, it all depends, on the people, the situation, it just depends."

Natalia stood, "Thank you."

The blonde seemed to hover. "Are you sure you're okay? You looked quite pale."

Natalia gave the two women a half hearted smile, "Yes, thank you, and please, try to keep the noise level down."

Natalia turned at the doorway as both women nodded and the blonde spoke again, "Of course, of course. Good luck with... whatever you're going through."

Natalia closed the front door of her farmhouse with barely any noise. She sniffed the air, someone had been cooking someone. She didn't want to see the mess in the kitchen. She put down her purse and shucked her coat and went into the kitchen. It was nice and clean, the last guilt trip that she had laid on Olivia for messiness had apparently worked.

Olivia was at the table, her head laid down on her arms, asleep. Natalia had never seen Olivia quite like she was. There were always walls, even between the two of them, after all that they'd been through together. Olivia had been hurt so many times, sometimes she had brought it on herself, sometimes she'd been collateral damage through no fault of her own.

And yet, despite everything that'd happened to her, she'd let Ava in, and was starting to let Natalia in, at least, she had been until Emma's 'Two Mommies' project.

Natalia touched Olivia's shoulder, "Olivia?"

She sat up and gave Natalia a half a smile. "Morning. Your date must have gone well, all night."

Her face was red where it had been against her sleeve and Natalia had to stifle a smile at the cuteness of it. She sank into the chair next to Olivia. "It was fine. How was Emma's sleepover with Derrick?"

Olivia tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. "His older brother called us lesbos."

"Oh, no."

"It's okay. Emma and I... we had a talk."

"Good, good."

They both fell silent, lost in their own thoughts. It was Natalia who broke the silence. "Why did you kiss me?"

Olivia straightened in her chair, "I told you, to prove a point."

"Did... we've been living together for... have you ever thought of a woman in... that way?"

Olivia couldn't meet Natalia's eyes. "I know that you're religious, that your religion is pretty against homosexuality."

Natalia wasn't giving up, "That's not what I asked."

Olivia ran her hands through her hair, trying to bring it into some sort of order, "No, at least, not until this New Year's Eve."

Natalia turned Olivia in her seat so that she had to meet Natalia's gaze. "When you kissed me, I... had a moment of... utter calmness and then an explosion of, of fire in me. Everything felt perfect, but I... I like men, I always have. You, are not a man."

Olivia cracked a half a grin, "Not the last time I checked."

Natalia put her fingers on Olivia's lips, "No jokes, not now."

Olivia gently moved Natalia's fingers away so she could talk, "Frank likes you, loves you. He got Rafe library duty, and he will do right by you and Rafe. Be a father for him."

Natalia shook her head and stood, "You can't accept that you do good, that someone could love you just for you Olivia. You gave up your job to repair my stupid financial mistake. You arranged it so Rafe would be sent to a better prison."

Olivia shook her head, "I didn't do these things to... to... get you into bed."

"Sometimes Olivia Spencer."

Natalia leaned down, captured Olivia's head in her hands and kissed the life out of the woman. She didn't let go, and Olivia didn't seem to mind the kiss.

They broke apart, both out of breath. Olivia shook her head, "Natalia, I'm not, I'm not gay, not a lesbian."

Natalia sat back down and took Olivia's hands in her own, "Neither am I. I, I don't know if I can do this. You're right, it goes against everything I've ever been taught, everything I thought I knew, I thought I was, and yet..." She closed her eyes. "Maybe it's just Gus' heart, maybe it's not you and me, but me and Gus, or, or..."

Olivia gently raised Natalia's chin until the woman opened her eyes and looked at Olivia again. "I can live with friends, good friends. You have been there for me these past months, even when I didn't think I wanted you there. You can go out with Frank, he's a good man. I can do friends."

"I... I don't think I can though Olivia. Frank is nice, fine, but right now." Natalia brushed a lock of Olivia's unruly hair back over her ear. "Even if it sends me to hell, or, or I have to go to confession every day. I want you, even in... I choose you."

A true smile came to Olivia's face. Not the smile that her guests at the hotel got, or the one her wide and varied familial connections got, but the smile she reserved for those she truly loved, her daughters, sometimes Buzz, and now Natalia. "I don't know where this'll end."

Natalia scraped her chair closer to Olivia's. "Isn't that true of all great love stories?"

Olivia didn't answer, but with infinite grace met Natalia's lips and her insecurities, doubts, everything swirling around not just hers, but both their minds ceased and they floated in the moment.

At the doorway to the kitchen Emma carefully backed into the living room, making sure not to make a sound. She picked up the phone and dialed Derrick, even though she knew she shouldn't without her Mom or Natalia's permission. "Hi Derr." A giddy smile came to her face as she spoke barely above a whisper. "It totally worked perfectly." She paused. "Yeah, sorry 'bout usin' your brother like that." She paused again as Derrick spoke on the other end of the line. "No, can't today, I mean, they're gonna have to tell me and stuff. But I'll see you in school. Bye, yep, bye."

She hung up the phone and looked out the living room window. Life was good. Life was perfect.

Fin ~ January 24th, 2009