Because sometimes the villain can change and an unexpected life can be accepted.
A/N: This story takes places during the season Torn when Rafe and Livvie were married and begins right after Livvie set the fire at the grain silo. Frank died in the blaze and the Avatar moved on to another host somewhere else. Kevin never found Livvie's medical records, so no one knows the truth about Livvie's child but Livvie. For all of those who enjoy the RafeAlison stories, I'm sorry, but this isn't one of them. I always had a soft spot in my heart for Livvie and I liked the show better when she was with Rafe than when she was with Caleb, despite all of her lies & manipulations. I own no characters from Port Charles, but Ayden and other characters are mine. One-shot fan fiction. Enjoy. – IrethAnwarunya
This wasn't the life he had dreamed of. This wasn't where he thought he would be. To be honest, no one would have guessed this would be the life that Rafe Kovich would be living. Not long after the fire that destroyed the Avatar, Rafe finally broke down and took Livvie away from Port Charles like she had been wanting. They now lived peacefully in a cozy little house out in the country. Rafe had opened a fitness center in the middle of town and they were prospering quite well. Three years earlier, Livvie had given birth to a beautiful dark-haired little girl that they named Ayden Mariah Kovich. She was a regular little gypsy child. Her black curls escaped their restrictive ties and wound up a tangled mess, her eyes were a honey brown, and her sun kissed skin donned an olive tan from hours of unworried play. Rafe was amazed at how much he loved and adored that little girl. No other female had ever captured his heart like Ayden had. Except for Alison. He never thought about Alison anymore, not since he and Livvie had left Port Charles. He had heard nothing from her in three years and wryly thought that they had finally gotten the hang of not running into each other. Oh, well. That was the past and he had a future to think of.
Rafe's eyes looked up from the paperwork in his hands and scanned the top of his desk. He looked at the photo of Ayden and Livvie playing in the autumn leaves and of the picture of himself and Livvie at the ceremony when they renewed their vows last year, but he stopped and smiled at another photograph, which he took in his hands. The black and white picture was somewhat confusing if one did not know what to look for, but Rafe's eyes had stared at it many times over the past few months and the image was clear to him.
The sonogram showed a healthy little boy that Rafe was overjoyed to meet. He gazed at the photograph of his son with awe. He felt guilty that he had not been as involved with Livvie's pregnancy with Ayden, but there had been so many things happening at the time. The business with the Avatar, Lucy's attempts at getting him together with Alison, the stress of living in Port Charles, and then the hassle of moving and establishing a business had been somewhat time consuming and Rafe regretted it. What he regretted even more was missing Ayden's birth, but he was more than making up for it with his and Livvie's son.
"What are you doing?" said a sultry voice from the doorway. Rafe looked up from the frame in his hands and saw his wife standing at the threshold, her hands enclosing her swollen stomach. He rose from his desk chair and strode toward her.
"Just thinking," was the reply after he had gently kissed her forehead. "What are you doing here so late?" he questioned.
"I was just coming to see how much longer you were going to be. I called, but the guy at the front said that you were busy and wouldn't put me through," Livvie told him, taking his hand in hers.
"Where's Ayden?"
"She's at home. I didn't want to have to wake her up to get her in the car, so Mrs. Young from next door is staying with her until I get back,"
"How are you feeling?" Rafe asked Livvie as he led her to his chair.
"Tired. It's hard to keep up with a three year old when you're eight months pregnant," she said. "Will you be coming home soon?"
"Yeah. Just give me a few minutes to finish up here and I'll be home. I'm trying to get things in order before the baby comes. I don't want to have to worry about anything but you and our family," said Rafe.
Livvie awkwardly rose from the swiveling chair with Rafe's strong, steady arm to support her. She placed a tender kiss on his lips and after telling him that she would be waiting up for him when he got back, she left his office.
Once she was gone, Rafe filed the remainder of the paperwork on his desk and began closing things up at the front of the gym. He quickly rearranged a set of weights and organized a few disorderly exercise mats before heading toward the door. His hand poised at the light switch, Rafe looked around his fitness center. This was certainly the last place one would expect an ex-vampire slayer to be. Rafe had once lived in a way that kept his life in danger at nearly every moment. He had loved the thrill and excitement, but he gave all of it up for a life he had always wanted: a home and family. He told himself that being a slayer did not make his life complete, that the excitement did not make him whole, and then he turned off all the fluorescent lights and locked the glass doors behind him.
As he drove down the darkened empty streets of town to the darker roads of the country, Rafe's thoughts again wandered to his former life. An even bigger shock that was probably the hardest for everyone to come to terms with was his marriage to Livvie. No one had expected them to stay married, least of all Rafe. Many times he had contemplated leaving her for Alison had it not been for the baby, but something changed in him. Something had changed the night of the fire. Rafe thought back to his conversation with Livvie's father, Kevin, as they had fought outside the burning silo.
"I know how wonderful and loving Livvie's been to me and I know that she believes in me and trusts that I'm going to be there to take care of her,"
"It's a simple question Rafe. A question that any newlywed, any man whose wife is carrying his child would be able to answer." Kevin pursued.
"I have tried to tell you!" Rafe exclaimed. Why couldn't Kevin just understand?
"Your answer's poetic but it doesn't fly!" Kevin yelled back.
"I made a promise and I'm going to keep it. Okay?" Rafe said, trying to put an end to the talk.
"My daughter deserves to be loved. She needs stability Rafe, she craves it." Kevin replied.
"If you can't give her your whole heart Rafe then let her go!" Kevin had pleaded. He confessed his worries about Livvie's mental state, but Rafe quickly silenced him.
"Whether I have your approval or not, I am Livvie's husband and I am going to take care of her. So that's what I'm going to do right now. I'm going to go take my wife home," Rafe told his father-in-law and stormed away.
As Rafe pulled into the driveway of his home, another moment from that night flashed into his mind. He vividly remembered he and Livvie standing before the smoldering silo as the sun began to rise on the horizon. He remembered holding her tightly in his arms as she had cried against his shoulder.
"I am so sorry that this happened," Livvie had choked out between sobs.
He took her tearstained face in his hands and looked into her eyes. "It's my fault. I got careless," he told her.
"It's just that I love you so much and I would fall apart if I ever lost you," she said, running her hand through his sandy blonde locks.
"You know what? It's not gonna happen," he assured her, taking her tiny hands in his. Then, with Kevin's words fresh in his mind he said," Because you are my wife and we've made a life together and we're making a life together and I, um, I love you."
That had been the first time Rafe had ever told Livvie that he loved her. He remembered the joy in her eyes when he had said those words. In all honesty, he had not really meant them, but figured that it couldn't hurt to say them since Livvie had done so much for him. Now, as he silently padded through the quiet house, he realized how much he had grown to love her over time. Before heading to his bedroom, Rafe opened Ayden's door. He tiptoed to her tiny little bed and knelt down in the floor beside her. He gently caressed her unruly curls and bestowed a careful kiss on her delicate cheek. He rose from the thick carpet and after stopping once more to admire her in her slumbering state Rafe silently closed the door behind him.
When he approached his own door, Rafe saw Livvie asleep, basked in the gentle light of the bedside lamp with a pregnancy book resting on her distended abdomen. Rafe quickly disrobed down to his boxers and climbed beneath the soft cotton sheets. He removed the book from Livvie's stomach and as he reached for the light, Livvie stirred and opened her eyes.
"I thought you were going to stay awake until I got home," he gently chided her. She smiled but did not reply and Rafe kissed her gently. He then clicked off the light and burrowed further down into the blankets.
"How is he doing tonight?" Rafe asked, placing his hand on Livvie's stomach. He felt his son dancing beneath her skin and was once again amazed. Pride welled up inside of him and he felt an uncontrollable desire to meet this tiny stranger.
"He's been restless till now. I think he was waiting for you to come home. He's definitely going to be daddy's boy," Livvie replied, placing her own hand on top of Rafe's. "You're stealing both our children's hearts."
"What can I say?" he said with a sexy smile, "I just have a natural charm about me. Everyone finds it irresistible."
Livvie playfully shoved him away but he leaned forward and kissed the top of her head. "Get some sleep," she ordered him, "Your charm won't be effective if you're a bear in the morning."
Rafe lightly chuckled and again kissed his wife before nestling into bed. In a matter of moments, Rafe Kovich was sound asleep.