Disclaimer : I own nothing of the characters or show. P&G gets those bragging rights. I'm just having fun with them.

Author's Note : So, TPTB are determined that Nat should be pregnant, huh? Sweet! Watch me turn the tables on these fools!!

THE CONFRONTATION

As far as Olivia Spencer is concerned, this had simply been another in a loooooooooooooooong series of absolutely miserable days. In the past three weeks, she'd landed two multi-million dollar accounts, she'd received rave reviews from guests regarding the new amenities (i.e. the new spa and gym) which the Beacon was now offering, the entirety of her staff was working like a well-oiled machine, profits were up 15%, and she'd already booked all four of the new luxury suites which had just been completed by maintenance three days prior. In short, it was a living hell.

Every day was a living hell when she was in this much unrelenting emotional pain. The cause of her pain? The absence of one sweet and gorgeous Latina, not only in her hotel, but more importantly, in her life. The hotel owner hadn't even had an excuse to yell at anyone in over a week, much to her dismay. She stomps out of the elevator towards her suite, her workday done, agitation evident in every step. She yanks her cardkey angrily out of her pocket along with her set of other keys, she swipes the cardkey hastily, shoves her door open unnecessarily hard, walks in, turns around and slams the door violently. She takes three steps inside and pitches her key ring against the wall with all her might. Her chest heaves with emotion, and now that she is alone, she finally stops fighting the tears that are welling up in her eyes. She starts to crumble. She slowly makes her way to the couch and curls up on it in the fetal position as the tears slip down her face. It has become a nightly ritual.

The beautiful hotelier remains there, immobile and unblinking, in the dark, in the dead silence, for over an hour. Though her breathing and heart rate slow, the tears continue to pour from her emerald eyes incessantly. She is powerless to stop them as her mind refuses to deviate. It is stuck on the Natalia channel. All Natalia, all the time.

Suddenly, there's a knock at the door. At first, she ignores it. The knocking resumes. She ignores the second series of knocks as well, but when there's a third series of knocks, an incredulous Olivia bolts up to a sitting position, roughly dries the tears from her face, and screams at the top of her lungs.

OLIVIA : "WHOEVER'S KNOCKING, YOU HAVE EXACTLY TWO SECONDS TO RUN FOR YOUR LIFE BEFORE I GO OUT THERE AND RIP YOUR THROAT OUT!!"

Believing that her point has been made, Olivia starts to settle back down on the couch with an exasperated huff until she hears the quiet zzzzzzzztt of a cardkey being swiped at her door. At first, she's not sure she heard correctly, but upon seeing the handle turn and the door beginning to swing open, she knows she was not mistaken. She leaps to her feet, roughly grabs a slender, silver candle holder from the coffee table and clutches it at her side, her knuckles going white from the force, ready to smash it over the head of whichever poor soul might be foolhardy enough to invade her privacy as well as her very dwelling. An instant later, however, the candleholder slips from the green-eyed woman's hand, she goes slack jawed, and her entire body threatens to go limp from shock upon recognizing the intruder, which happens to be the love of her life, the woman she's been missing painfully for the past three weeks. Natalia Rivera steps into the room meekly, almost fearfully. Truth be told, part of Olivia wants nothing more than to walk over, take the gentle brunette in her strong arms, and kiss her within an inch of her life. However, the green-eyed woman feels hurt and betrayed that just before they were to take a huge step forward in their relationship, the younger woman had simply vanished, leaving her best friend thoroughly confused and bitter. The older woman's pride takes control and she stands steadfast on her anger, refusing to speak first.

NATALIA (hesitantly, cautiously): "H-hi, Liv."

OLIVIA (incredulously) : "Hi, Liv? You disappear without so much as a good-bye just before we're supposed to announce to the whole town, most importantly Emma, that we're a couple, I don't hear a single word from you for three whole weeks, that entire time I have no idea where you are, what you're doing, or why, and now you waltz in here unannounced, uninvited and it's just… Hi, Liv? Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea…"

Olivia stops short of completing the sentence, determined not to give the Latina the satisfaction of knowing the full extent of the affect that her absence has had. Natalia opens her mouth, but fumbles her words for a moment before she's able to speak clearly.

NATALIA (guiltily, remorsefully): "Olivia, I know it wasn't right for me to just drop out of sight like I did the day of the barbecue without even talking to you about it, but…" (eyes tearing, taking a cautious step towards Olivia) "I never meant to hurt you, baby. I swear."

Olivia steps menacingly towards Natalia, grabs her arm roughly, and begins to shove her towards the door.

OLIVIA (bitterly): "Get out!"

NATALIA : "No, Liv, please listen to me."

OLIVIA (continuing to manhandle Natalia as she hustles the Latina towards the exit): "I said out!"

NATALIA (pleadingly) : "Olivia, please… I have to tell you something…"

OLIVIA (furiously): "I don't want to hear anything you have to say!"

NATALIA (blurting out, desperately): "Olivia, I'm pregnant!"

And with those three little words, the world stops spinning. That's all it takes for Olivia's life to come to an abrupt, screeching halt. She freezes. After a second, she slowly, silently loosens her grip on Natalia's arm.

NATALIA : "I'd just found out right before the picnic." (stopping to take a deep breath) "That's why I left."

The words seep in slowly and have the impact of a physical body blow on the older woman. Though her actions are angry, the tears in her eyes betray her fury. She releases the other woman and her arms shoot out sharply to her sides in an incredulous gesture. Her mouth is a tight, thin line, her jaw clenched.

OLIVIA (sarcastically) : "Congratulations! I'm sure you and Frank will be very happy together. You should have married him in the first place, like I told you to! Now, for the love of God, get out of here and leave me alone."

Olivia turns on her heels and heads for her bedroom.

NATALIA (crying, pleadingly) : "Olivia, please…"

Suddenly there's another knock at the door.

OLIVIA (spinning around angrily) : "What the…"

CHILD'S VOICE (from outside the door) : "Mommy?"

Both women instantly recognize Emma's voice. Olivia glares at Natalia for a second before brushing past her to go open the door. There she finds her younger daughter chaperoned by her father.

EMMA (excitedly, jumping into Olivia's arms) : "Mommy!!"

OLIVIA (smiling sadly, hugging her daughter) : "Hey, Jellybean. What are you doing here? You're supposed to be taking care of Daddy at his new house."

PHILLIP : "Emma decided she wanted to take me swimming, but she'd left her suit here, so…"

The 8-year-old peers past her birth mother as her parents speak to each other and spots her "other mother".

EMMA (squealing with excitement) : "Natalia!!!"

The little girl sprints to the raven-haired beauty and almost tackles the woman as she launches herself at her "other mother" roughly for an overenthusiastic hug.

OLIVIA (worriedly) : "Emma, be careful."

NATALIA (smiling sadly) : "Hi, baby."

Natalia kisses the top of the little girl's head. The 8-year-old turns to look up into the face of the adult holding her.

EMMA : "I missed you so much!!"

NATALIA (smiling down at her "daughter"): "I missed you, too, sweetheart."

EMMA : "Mommy missed you, too. A lot!! She wasn't eating or sleeping and she was crying all the time because you were gone."

Natalia ventures a quick, remorseful glance at her love over their daughter's head only to find the older woman anxiously avoiding eye contact.

EMMA (excitedly): "But now that you're back, she won't be sad anymore. I'm so happy you're home!!"

PHILLIP (sincerely, with a smile) : "It's good to see you, Natalia. Welcome home."

NATALIA (smiling sadly): "Thanks, Phillip. It's good to be home."

Emma stands unsteadily on tip-toe, reaching up for the Latina's shoulders, trying to get the woman to lift her. Olivia realizes what the little girl is doing. Her anger is then overridden by genuine concern for the health and safety of the woman who is, in spite of everything, her world. She calls to her child.

OLIVIA (gently): "Jellybean, Natalia can't pick you up."

Emma's face drops. It's amazing how much she looks like her mother when she's worried, Natalia marvels.

EMMA (looking up at Natalia, slowly, carefully, coming down off her toes, worried): "Why? Are you hurt?"

Natalia shakes her head and opens her mouth to speak, but is pre-empted by Olivia who charges forth with a reply.

OLIVIA : "No, sweetie. It's just that you're growing so fast that it's hard for Natalia to carry you anymore. You're getting to be a big girl, you know?"

Emma doesn't quite buy that convenient explanation, but she knows better than to challenge her mother.

EMMA (keeping a possessive arm around Natalia's waist and leaning into her, confused): "Oh, o-ok."

Though Phillip doesn't know exactly what's happening between the two women, he senses they were in the middle of an important discussion. The tension in the air is palpable, and he makes a discreet attempt to give them back their privacy.

PHILLIP (pretending to be excited): "Well, come on, Em. You promised me we were going swimming. Grab your suit. Let's go."

The little girl looks up at the Latina and studies her face.

EMMA (fearfully) : "You're not leaving again, are you?"

NATALIA (sincerely) : "No, baby. I'm not going anywhere. I'm home for good now. I promise." (drops to her knees in front of Emma to look her in the eyes and takes the little girls hands, wanting to reassure her) "Sweetie, I owe you and your mom an apology. I'm really, really sorry that I left without saying good-bye and that I was gone for so long, but, uh, well… I just… had to… be alone so I could think about some things. But I'm all done thinking now and I'm home and I really want us all to be friends again just like before. Can we do that? Do you forgive me?"

EMMA (smiling happily) : "Sure. I wasn't mad at you. I was just worried."

NATALIA (softly): "Thank you. Can I have a hug and a kiss?"

Beaming, the little girl throws her arms around Natalia's neck and the two share a kiss on the cheek. After a moment, Natalia pulls back, keeping her hands on the little girl's upper arms, and looks into the child's face, remaining on her knees before the child.

NATALIA (chancing another quick glance at Olivia, ensuring that the hotelier is listening before whispering conspiratorially to Emma) : "Do you think your mom will forgive me and let me talk to her about the decisions I made while I was gone?"

Olivia grimaces as she thinks to herself, That was dirty pool, Rivera.

EMMA (giggling) : "Of course she will. She loves you. She just wants you back."

Out of the mouths of babes indeed. Olivia feels completely exposed and tries desperately to cover her unease by interrupting the conversation.

OLIVIA (clearing her throat, uncomfortably): "Em, your father's waiting for you."

The child looks over to her parents and then back to her would-be second mom uncertainly.

NATALIA (smiling, reassuringly as she caresses the cherub's face): "It's ok, baby. I'll be right here and I'll see you in a little while. Scout's honor, ok?" (prodding the child towards her bedroom as she gets to her feet) "Go on. Go get your suit."

Emma disappears into the next room only to return instantly, bathing suit in hand.

EMMA : "Got it." (turning to hug Natalia) "Bye, Natalia."

NATALIA (returning the child's hug) : "Bye, baby."

Emma breaks from Natalia and runs to Olivia, grabbing her in a fierce hug.

EMMA : "Bye, Mommy."

OLIVIA (returning her daughter's hug, planting a gentle kiss on the child's head) : "Bye, baby. Have fun. And call me later."

Mother and daughter break away from the hug and Emma turns to leave. Phillip leans forward towards his ex-wife and the two parents share a kiss on the cheek.

OLIVIA (to Phillip): "Bye."

PHILLIP (touching her arm reassuringly): "Bye, Liv." (turning to Natalia) "Bye, Nat."

Natalia smiles and nods in acknowledgement.

OLIVIA (calling after father's and daughter's retreating forms) "Be careful in the pool… and take care of your father, ok?"

Once Emma and Phillip are out of sight, Olivia closes the door with slow deliberation. With the same slow deliberation, she turns and faces the woman she loves. Now eyeing each other anxiously, both women have the same thought at the same time. What now?