Disclaimer: Characters belong to Aaron Spelling, E. Duke Vincent, Gary Tomlin, NBC, et al and are used here strictly for non-profit entertainment purposes.
Rating: T
Genre: Drama
Spoilers: Entire series.
Summary: We are the sum of our entire lives.

A/N: The prompts are from the LiveJournal page, 100_situations.

Prompt #1: Phobia

Gregory stepped forward, blinking rapidly. His hands were buried deep in his pockets, clenched in tight fists. His heart pounded in his chest and he moved back slightly, in case the microphone could pick it up. In the audience, he saw his parents. His mother sat forward anxiously, a handkerchief to her mouth. She was so worried about a coughing spell. His father looked bored and probably wished to be back home instead of at his eight-year-old son's spelling bee.

"Phobia," he said clearly, ignoring the microphone's feedback. "P-H-O-B-I-A. Phobia."

The handkerchief fell and he saw his mother beam.

Prompt #2: Addict

"My mum says he smells like an old ashtray."

Olivia sighed, clutching her school books to her chest. "I think he's dreamy."

Her friend giggled and made kiss noises with her mouth. "You want to snog Frankie Doyle!" Lucy sang loudly.

A moment later, a group of older boys turned and began to snicker. Olivia's face burned as a chorus of suggestive whistling serenaded her. But, she did want to snog him. She wanted to kiss him until she couldn't breathe. It was all she ever thought about. That and the way his tobacco-stained fingers would explore her body.

A/N: The song is Umberto Tozzi's "Gloria" (written by Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi).

Prompt #3: Dance

Thomas swore beneath his breath, glaring intently at the cards he had been dealt. "Bloody music is distracting me," he murmured as the pop song boomed out of the speakers.

Gregory sucked deep on his cigar and looked up. Through a filmy veil of smoke, he watched his wife dance on the terrace. Caitlin toddled after her, clapping enthusiastically as she shrieked.

Scappa senza far rumore
Dal lavoro dal tuo letto

With the Italian air blowing around him, the image of his wife's swaying hips burned into his memory. She bent down and swung their delighted daughter into her arms.

Prompt #4: Sing

The radio was playing faintly. Someone's foot accidentally kicked it on as they climbed into the backseat.

Olivia's head fell back, letting him kiss his way up her throat. His fingers dug into her hips and she slipped closer, grinding against him. She sighed, her eyes closed as his hands crept beneath her blouse. Vaguely, as he expertly unfastened her bra, she realized the car didn't run out of gas. She could still hear David Bowie. Her eyes opened. She looked up, breathing hard as she met his wild eyes. Then, she leaned in and pressed her mouth to his.

Prompt #5: Cruise

"How about a cruise?"

Gregory watched his fiancee grimace. "Oh, no. Absolutely not," she said.

"Absolutely not," he repeated, marveling at her enthusiastic refusal. "How come?"

She shrugged as she thumbed through one of the Italian travel brochures. "Well, it's not very romantic, is it? All those strangers confined to the ship?" She sighed and finally turned to him. "The only way I'd ever take a cruise is if I wanted to hide from the world and get lost in the crowd."

"Even from me?" he asked quietly.

She grinned and reached for his cheek. "Never you."

Prompt #6: Careen

Olivia shrieked and pressed herself deeper into the leather seat. The car's engine roared as AJ hit the gas hard and jerked the wheel to the left. "Don't worry!" he shouted as the Aston Martin careened around a hairpin turn.

She glanced over, her long hair blowing wildly around her face. He smirked, but didn't look over as the car flew down the coastal highway. This was exactly the kind of American boy her mother warned her about. Wealthy. Without a care in the world.

He turned into the observation spot and braked. She exhaled deeply as he asked, "Well?"

Prompt #7: Psychic

"I'm psychic," Sheila announced. Gregory and Morris glanced at each other and burst out laughing. "I am," she insisted, exhaling a stream of cigarette smoke. "Watch."

Gregory rolled his eyes as she reached for his hand and began to study his palm intently. "This is ridiculous," he muttered as he reached for his can of beer. She hushed him and ignored the way Morris snickered.

She gently traced one of the lines on his palm. "You've had a lot of sadness and darkness." He felt himself turn to stone as she continued, "Your mother died when you were nine."

Prompt #8: Insomniac

"You'll tell them you fell asleep."

Olivia shook her head furiously. "They'll never believe that, Del. Ever."

"Now, look here, darlin'-"

"I was the only one who admitted to being an insomniac! That's why I always get the night shift! The charge nurse will never believe I suddenly fell asleep!"

He frowned and thoughtfully stroked his chin. "Then, you're going to be sick. You took your break early and went to the bathroom because you felt sick."

"Sick?" she asked incredulously. "Sick!"

"Tell anyone who asks it was 'woman troubles'. No one will question that."

Prompt #9: Bath

Gregory chuckled as Sean giggled and kicked his feet. Water went everywhere, sloshing over the edge and onto the floor. His suit pants would be as soaked as his shirt, but he didn't care. No one but Olivia and Caitlin would see him after.

When Caitlin was a baby, she hated baths. She would wail the entire time, traumatized. But, not his son. No, he could spend hours in the bath, happily splashing through bubbles.

He leaned down, placing his hand on his son's chest. He felt the little boy's steady heart beat and he sighed, relieved.

Sean was perfect.

Prompt #10: Homo

Olivia felt her husband tug her hand, pulling her out of the gallery. Her husband. She smiled, wondering if that phrase would ever lose its exciting newness. As she turned to him, a large painting caught her eye. Her hand slipped from his as she moved closer. Standing before it a moment later, her face melted from curiosity to solemnity.

"Ecce Homo," he said, reading the small plaque next to it. His hands settled on her shoulders as he whispered, "I never understood revering that kind of suffering."

"You weren't brought up Catholic," she murmured, leaning against him.

Prompt #11: Coma

"Where's Caitlin?" Gregory asked, looking around the kitchen.

"She's still sleeping, Daddy," Sean said helpfully.

He patted his son on the head as he walked by and the boy looked up, grinning. "It's nearly ten," he grumbled. "Why does a twelve-year-old need to sleep so late?" Olivia chuckled beneath her breath and he looked up. "What?"

"As if you didn't sleep like a man in a coma when we first met."

As she smiled, he cleared his throat and snapped the paper open. Most days, he couldn't pretend things were still ok. "I was busy, Olivia."

Silence.

Prompt #12: Suicide

Olivia's hands flew to her mouth. "What?"

He frowned and hugged her close, cupping her head. She shuddered and leaned against him as he repeated, "Jeffrey Gordon is dead." Her skin crawled and she choked back vomit as she spun away. "Olivia?"

She shook her head and closed her eyes. Bette's husband. Elaine's doctor. "How?" she gasped.

There was a long silence before he said, "It was an accident. He lost control of his car and crashed through a guardrail."

She clamped her hand over her mouth as she fell to her knees. It wasn't an accident. It was intentional.

Prompt #13: Traitor

"You don't even look at me anymore," she snapped, angrily wiping her eyes.

Gregory inhaled sharply and resisted the urge to grab his wife's shoulders and shake some sense into her. "So, you do this?" he hissed, glaring.

She scoffed. "Oh, please! Don't you dare stand there and make it seem as if I'm the traitor to our marriage!"

He lunged for her and she shrieked as he pulled her against him. Her eyes widened as she struggled against him, whimpering his name. His lungs strained as his fingers dug into her arms. "You are my wife," he growled.

Prompt #14: Loyal

"Of course, as Barbara's parish priest, I knew her very well. But, I always like to ask the people who loved her to describe her. It allows me to make the homily at her funeral mass more personal. Comforting."

Olivia sat still, vaguely feeling her husband's arm tighten around her as her father sighed. It still felt wrong to refer to her mother in the past tense. "Loyal," she whispered. "Mummy was loyal to her family." She looked up slowly, feeling the eyes of her father and husband on her. "There wasn't anything she wouldn't do for our happiness."

Prompt #15: Miracle

Gregory rifled through the mail, chuckling at the bills addressed to his father. But, he dropped them all when he came to a thick envelope addressed to himself. The embossed logo of Cornell University was printed in the corner and he opened it quickly.

After careful consideration, we are pleased...

He skimmed the rest and only broke into a grin when he read that he was being awarded a full academic scholarship. It was a goddamn miracle. Bruce Richards never left Brooklyn. There was no way he would travel to Ithaca, especially not to visit his son.

Gregory was free.

Prompt #16: Divorce

Charles sent her home and told her to think about her options. Olivia scoffed as she took a sip of wine. She suspected he was simply tired of doing this pathetic dance with her.

He loves me. He loves me not.

I'll divorce him. I'll divorce him not.

But, she took the advice of her lawyer. She thought. If they divorced, who would zip up her dresses? If they didn't divorce, how much more could she take?

She shook her head. The only thing she decided was that she needed more Chardonnay. She reached for the wine bottle and sighed.

Prompt #17: Function

"What are you doing Friday night?" Gregory murmured. His fingers combed through her hair as she yawned. Her arm wrapped around his chest, tucking her fingers beneath his back. "Hmm?"

Her breath tickled his chest as she sighed, "Working."

"Can you switch your shift?"

"Why?"

He shrugged. "My firm is having a thing at the country club."

"A what?"

"A function. Dinner, dancing, speeches."

She leaned up, her sleepy eyes glowing in the moonlight. "I have a dress."

He smiled and reached out, drawing her closer. "I thought you might," he whispered, kissing her gently.

Prompt #18: Lonesome

Olivia heaved her suitcase off the revolving carousel and turned to leave. She was exhausted, hungry, and a little smelly. She needed a meal, a shower, and a bed – in that order. Suddenly, she thought of her parent's home.

Of the soap and clean towels in the bathroom.

Of her mother's kitchen.

Of the way her pillow felt.

She sat on her suitcase as tears rolled down her face. What was she doing in California? Bloody California. It wasn't as if her parents threw her out. She sighed, embarrassed to be weeping after only a day on her own.

Prompt #19: Belch

The living room was quiet. Gregory sat on the sofa, his wife's feet in his lap. With one hand, he caressed the top of her foot as his other hand flipped through the deposition. His wife sat up against a stack of pillows, rubbing their newborn daughter's back.

As he turned the page, he heard Caitlin finally burp. "Good one, darling," he heard Olivia say to her and he looked up, grinning. "What's that for?" she asked as he chuckled.

"She belches like her mother."

She frowned, her blue eyes flashing. "I only do that when I drink beer."

Prompt #20: Stink

Olivia pushed herself up and closed her eyes as the room began to spin. With a groan, she swung her legs and tentatively felt for the floor. She reached beneath the sheets for her underwear, barely glancing at the snoring man. With her silk panties dangling from her finger, she slowly walked to the bathroom.

She blinked under the unforgiving fluorescent light and saw her eye makeup smudged into her skin. She grimaced at the foul taste in her mouth. She could smell the alcohol in her sweat. She couldn't go home in this awful state.

Gregory would crucify her.

Prompt #21: Labor

"Have you thought about your future? Your career?"

Gregory nodded and leaned toward his undergraduate adviser. "After graduation, I'll be moving to Stanford."

The older man's bushy eyebrows jumped in surprise. "Stanford?"

"Stanford," he replied coolly. "I'm still deciding between labor and criminal-"

"But, Stanford?"

He sighed. "Yes. That was always my plan. I spoke of it during our first meeting freshman year."

"But Cornell has-"

"I'm going to Stanford Law School. I'm moving to California." He stood, picking up his textbooks. "There's nothing you can say to make me change my mind."

Prompt #22: Dropout

"Goddamn it, Sean! Another suspension? How do you manage to do this?"

Olivia grimaced and pressed her fingers to her head. No one bellowed quite like Gregory. She brought the martini to her lips as Sean retorted, "I don't know." He hated it when that was their son's reply.

Her smirk vanished as her husband brought his fist down, shaking the dining room table. "Do you want to be a dropout? Be a beach bum?"

"God, you don't understand anything!" he shouted as he stormed out.

She looked up at her husband's furious face. "Happy Christmas," she muttered.

Prompt #23: Quit

Gregory looked up as his wife stormed into his study, her face twisted. "Here!" she shouted, dumping file folders onto his desk. He watched her quietly as she brushed her hair back and announced, "I quit!"

He reached out, catching her hand as she turned away. "Why?" he asked curiously. He was convinced that buying the local radio station was the perfect business opportunity for her. Sean was in school all day now. She had time. He felt her hand tremble before she snatched it back. "Olivia?"

"I don't know what I'm doing," she confessed, studiously avoiding his gaze.

Prompt #24: Aghast

"Look, I'm Daddy!" Caitlin exclaimed, flapping her arms in her father's suit coat.

"Hmm, you don't sound like him," Olivia said, pulling it off her giggling daughter. "But, you are much prettier. Go get ready for dinner." She kissed her daughter's nose and draped the coat over her arm. As she did, a flash of pink caught her eye. Her face turned as she pulled out a pair of silk panties. She exhaled deeply – aghast – before she dropped them to the floor. Another woman. Again.

"Liv, where's my coat?"

She looked up, her face burning.

A/N: This is set just before the events of Chapter 37 of The Way They Used to Be.

Prompt #25: Station

Gregory froze and turned. Detective Harris stood still, her eyes glittering triumphantly. "What did you say?" he asked quietly.

"I think you heard me," she replied, her voice low and even. She stepped closer and Gregory felt his spine tingle as she continued, "Imagine the field day Tim Kelly will have when I walk your wife into the station in handcuffs."

He swallowed hard. She was going to subject his pregnant wife to an arrest and the media fiasco of a perp walk. "If you had a shred of evidence, we would've heard about it before now," he growled.

Prompt #26: Nervous

Olivia hung back, watching as Gregory enthusiastically greeted Morris. He was a different kind of friend than Del was, she realized. He knew him the longest, even longer than Alex. She smiled nervously when they finally turned to her. Gregory's eyes lit up with the lavishing attention she had become accustomed to whenever he looked at her. But, Morris... He watched her carefully and she trembled self-consciously.

"Well," he finally said, grinning widely, "I can see why Greg insisted I finally meet you." He turned to Gregory and nodded. She exhaled, feeling as if she had passed some test.

Prompt #27: Eliminate

"Are you alright?" Gregory asked, worried at the way she quickly paled. "Liv?"

"It's AJ," she gasped, looking past him.

He turned, watching as the scion to the Deschanel fortune was seated at a distant table. When he looked back at Olivia, she was reaching with a trembling hand for her wine glass. A flare of jealousy consumed him as their eyes met. "You didn't know he was back?"

She shook her head. "I haven't heard from him since he left."

He decided things needed to return to that status quo. AJ Deschanel needed to leave town.

Immediately.

Prompt #28: Birth

Olivia breezed into the kitchen, sniffing. "Walnut cake!"

Her mother slapped her hand away from the platter. "Don't you dare! It's for Marion Tully. Her daughter had a baby today."

She collapsed into the chair, lazily twirling hair around her finger. "I want five children," she sighed, folding her legs beneath her.

Barbara chuckled and glanced over. "Five, eh?"

"It's the perfect number."

"You see about one baby," she muttered. "Then, see how you feel about four more."

"I won't change my mind."

"What if your husband doesn't want five children?"

The sixteen-year-old grinned. "He will."

Prompt #29: Medicated

"Is Olivia awake?"

Dr. Robinson shook his head and led Gregory into the hospital room. "I prescribed a sedative. Sleep is the best thing for her now."

He looked down at his wife, her face still and pale. Her belly was cruelly round and full. But, their son was dead. He didn't turn when the doctor left and quietly closed the door behind him. Gently, he reached out, his trembling hand on her stomach. A moment later, he fell to his knees, gasping. The mattress swallowed his sob as he cried, his hand still resting on her empty stomach.

Prompt #30: Poor

"You're what?"

Olivia hung her head, waves of shame radiating off her. "Poor," she repeated, feeling the weight of his stare. But, she refused to look up.

"Poor?"

"My parents aren't wealthy. I barely make any money at the hospital," she murmured, tears burning at her eyes. "I'm not rich like you." She felt him turn her chin up and she shook her head, embarrassed.

"Liv," he sighed, brushing a tear away, "do you think this changes anything?" She sobbed as his arms went around her. "I love you," he continued as she trembled against him.

Prompt #31: Rob

"Frankie Doyle was the first," she murmured, reaching for his fly.

Gregory shook his head, content to not know about her old boyfriends. Her hand brushed his crotch as he growled, "Liv-"

Her eyes flashed teasingly as she caressed him through his pants. "Then, there was Rob-"

Later, he remembered pulling her against him, their lips hot and starving. The way he drove hard, tortured by visions of her in the arms of others. The way she clung to him, her ankles digging into the small of his back. The way she moaned his name.

His name.

Prompt #32: Confess

Olivia hugged Caitlin to her chest, combing through her soft blonde curls. "Darling, can I tell you something?"

"It sounds serious."

"Hardly a confession," she said as he climbed into their bed next to her.

"But, it is serious?"

She smiled as their toddler sighed in her sleep. "I decided something." He watched her curiously as she continued softly, "I want to call him Gregory."

There was a moment's hesitation before his face melted into a proud grin. "Are you-"

"It's the only name for him." She reached out, cupping his face as he nodded.

Prompt #33: Forgive

"Forgive me for being blunt, but you want to marry my daughter. Don't you?"

Gregory nodded and pushed his pint aside. "I do. I-" he faltered as he met her father's eyes. "I need her, Thomas. I can't imagine my life without her."

He watched him carefully. "So, you flew all the way to London, in secret, so you could ask?"

He grinned. "I think Olivia's impulsiveness may have rubbed off on me."

The older man chuckled, his eyes twinkling. "Apparently." He cleared his throat and said quietly, "I'd be proud to have you for a son, Gregory."