Celebrate. JL is back and is filming.
Olivia was normally a patient person. Depending on the situation, at least. She had dealt with workers that were unbelievably slow, Emma as she learned to ride a bike, and, of course, with everything concerning Natalia and Frank. There was a problem with this, however. She and Natalia had decided that patience was no more and that they would stop waiting. Stop waiting for Frank. Stop waiting for Rafe. Stop waiting for anything. They had waited long enough and now they were ready.
But they weren't ready.
As Olivia lay on the hotel bed with a stack of papers that she needed to go over before the next meeting, she realized that she was still, of course, waiting. And she was getting really tired of it.
It had been almost two weeks since Natalia got up and left without saying anything. Trying to look for her was no use, as Olivia found out with Doris by searching every church retreat around Springfield. Giving up after shouting to the heavens was the end result, and Natalia was still gone.
The stack of papers sat untouched when Olivia had to get up in order to retrieve her now-ringing phone. It was Jane calling. Emma was with Jane. They were supposed to go to the pool.
"Hi, Jane, is anything wrong?" Olive tried not to sound panicked. "Oh, the pool had to close down, that's too bad… Ducks? What is she talking about… Oh! The ducks at the farmhouse," she sighed. Jane was telling her that Emma kept asking if they could go and visit the ducks by the farmhouse and play with them like she used to do. "Actually, why don't you just bring her back over here to the Beacon…Yeah…Okay."
"Mom! Are we going to go play with the ducks? At the farmhouse?" Emma asked eagerly once inside the room.
"Jellybean, you know that Natalia isn't home right now, so we can't just go over there," Olivia explained, sitting Emma down on the bed.
"But Natalia always said that we could go over there and feed the ducks when ever we wanted. And, and if Natalia isn't there, then who's going to feed them?"
"The ducks aren't pets like a cat or a dog. They feed themselves,"
"Well then maybe they just want some company since no one is at the farmhouse to play with them," Emma said hopefully.
Nonetheless, Olivia found herself sitting on the porch of the house that she once and still wishes to, later call home. Emma ran around the yard with breadcrumbs, sure to avoid any mud puddles, with little ducks chasing after her.
She smiled, if only because her daughter was happy and having fun, and gave a sigh that was full of slight exasperation.
And then she stood up so quickly that she came close to losing her balance and falling off the porch steps. It would have been comical if anyone else had seen her act of grace. Or, lack thereof. No amount of force would be able to stop the tears that made their way down Olivia's face, and she didn't even bother to try and mask them as Natalia's figure drew closer.
Any other person would be just slightly shocked in the least to find someone at their house while they were away, but Natalia grinned at the sight. She grinned and she ran.
With open arms, the sobbing Olivia was ready to embrace Natalia, but her arms were dismissed. Natalia instead placed her own hands one the other woman's face and kissed her. Plain and simple.
Only it ended up turning just a little complex when Emma came running up to the two screaming, "Natalia!"
The two women broke apart, both now sporting bright red faces of pure shock and slight embarrassment. Natalia tried to smile and Olivia merely cleared her throat, watching as her daughter jumped up and down in excitement.
"Natalia! You're home!" Emma wrapped her arms tightly around Natalia's waist. "I wanted to see the ducks because I thought they would be lonely while you were away."
"Well, I'm sure the ducks appreciated you coming to visit them," Natalia's smile was more genuine as she gave Emma another hug.
"Em, why don't you go finish playing with ducks for a bit," Olivia said, receiving a nod before her daughter scampered off. They waited for her to be completely out of earshot before clasping their hands over their mouths in a bout of laughter.
"That was…"
"Too close." Olivia said, finishing Natalia's sentence for what was probably the millionth time.