Valentine's Day… Just Another Day
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Summary: My response to the Valentine's Day Fanfic Challenge. When Nina offers to take the kids and Walter for the weekend, Peter and Olivia are looking forward to celebrating Valentine's Day in a relaxed manner. But of course in the Bishop-household nothing is bound to go as planned.
When I mentioned Smarties in this story I had sugar-coated chocolate in mind but when I googled it up, it turned out that in the US it means some kind of candy. How interesting! Anyway, I think it works either way.
Sorry for the mistakes!
Enjoy!
Olivia was lying in bed under the warm covers. She'd been awake, sort of, for some time now but she was determined not to leave the bed. It had to be an emergency or any kind of events at least of apocalyptic measures for her to even consider beginning her day just yet. So currently she was in the blissful state between awareness and sleep without the possibility of Walter roaming the house singing in the early morning or the kids planning an ambush to wake her and demand breakfast. This undisturbed peace didn't last long, though, because suddenly Olivia's eyes popped open and she made a beeline for the toilet at record speed. Trust the baby to sit on her bladder when she was thoroughly enjoying the feeling of having nothing pressing to do.
Leaving the bathroom, she popped down on the bed dejectedly, her hand stroking her large belly. Those covers were so inviting but there was no way that now she could go back just lying there and doing nothing. Sighing, she stood up to begin the day. It was Saturday and she and Peter had planned to spend the day at home, relaxing and just spending some quality time together in honor of Valentine's Day.
After grabbing her robe, she was on her way to the door when the annoying tunes of "Hovercast Mother" by Violet Sedan Chair reached her ears. She groaned. While trying to find her mobile that, most likely, was the source of the offending noise, she wondered when the hell Walter had the opportunity to put his hands on her phone and change her ring tone. Once again. That was really an annoying habit of her father-in-law… among other things.
Finally she managed to find her phone under a pile of cloths she had discarded on the floor the previous night, not really bothering to put them away before going to bed.
"What?" she all but snapped into the phone.
"Woah, there," came Peter's cheery voice through the speaker. "What is that tone for in the morning?" Olivia could hear his amused chuckle and she couldn't help but smile a little.
"Sorry, Peter," she told him in a gentler tone. "The day just didn't start the way I planned."
"Really? And what did you plan?"
"Well, for starters, not being out of bed till you get home," she sighed. Peter had been out of town for a couple of days and he was to get home that morning. Olivia couldn't wait. It was trying to be on her own with Walter and the kids.
"What happened? Walter couldn't possibly do anything. He is out with the girls, right?" Their Valentine's Day plan consisted of being just the two of them and Nina was kind enough to offer taking the girls and Walter for the weekend, giving a little time for the parents to relax.
"Yes. But there's still another Bishop in this house who can cause me grievance," Olivia informed him with an accusing tone. Those Bishop-genes were trouble. "And don't underestimate your father."
"I see," Peter chuckled again. "Just hold on a little longer, Sweetheart. My taxi got held up on the way from the airport but I'll be home in no time."
"You'd better hurry up, Bishop," Olivia assumed a warning tone but even Peter could hear the smile in it. "I'm all ready to get spoiled rotten today."
"Oh, I'm planning on just doing that," Peter chuckled. "I love you, 'Livia. See you soon." And with that he hung up the phone.
Olivia threw her phone back on the pile of cloths on the floor then went to get some tea. It was uncharacteristically silent in the house… at least until she reached the stairs. First she couldn't be sure what she was hearing but as she got closer and closer to the source of the sound, she realized that it sounded a lot like… no, she shook her head. That couldn't possibly be.
Cautiously, she made her way to the kitchen and stopped short by the door. The sight that greeted her made her want to burst out laughing. She refrained from it, though, however hard it was, and just kept watching. There, in the kitchen, around the table sat Nina with Lizzie and Gracie… and they were bahing like a sheep while Walter was deeply engrossed in one of his culinary enterprises by the counter.
It didn't take long for Nina to notice her and when she did, she said something to the girls then stood up and went to Olivia.
"Olivia, I'm sorry. They insisted on coming home and making you a surprise breakfast."
"It's all right, Nina," Olivia smiled at the older woman then turned and stepped into the kitchen with a huge grin on her face. "Hey little bugs!" In an instant the little girls abandoned whatever they were doing by the table and ran up to their mother, beaming. "What are you doing?"
"We will go to the zoo today and Miss Sharp said to draw an animal we want to see the best," three-year-old Gracie told her mother, not even giving a chance for her older sister to open her mouth. She was a real Bishop girl, bright as her father and always in the centre, always having something to say. Lizzie was more like Olivia. She usually kept to herself but when provoked, she was one tough little girl.
"So, what did you draw?" Olivia asked and took a curious look at the table. The girls quickly ran back to grab their paper and showed it proudly to Olivia. She took the drawings from her daughters, studied them then looked up at Nina questioningly, being at a loss at what she was looking at.
"It seems that everybody is excited about the same thing," Nina explained with a smile as she walked up to the little group. Olivia kept looking clueless while Walter kept being oblivious to the little commission in the kitchen. "We all want to see the sheep," Nina looked down at the girls with a conspiring look. It never ceased to amaze Olivia how good Nina was with kids.
"The sheep," Olivia tired to look as if she had known it all along. "Of course," she looked back to the drawings then glanced at Gracie. "But, honey, sheep is not purple." Olivia could hear Lizzie whispering an indignant 'I told you so' to her sister but Gracie couldn't be fazed.
"But Grandpa said it can!" Olivia and Nina exchanged a slightly worried look which made Gracie assume that nobody believed her. She quickly ran up to her grandfather and pulled on his sleeve. "Grandpa!" It took Walter for a while to notice the little girl standing by his feet.
"Oh…" He looked down at his granddaughter. "Hey there, little one."
"Grandpa, tell them that the sheep can be purple, too," she demanded confident that the old man wouldn't contradict her.
"Of course, my dear," Walter smiled, already zoning out. "One just has to find the right DNA sequence and…"
"Walter," Nina's warning voice pulled the old scientist back to the earth.
"Oh, sorry," he looked sheepish for a moment then looked down at Gracie. "But a sheep can definitely be purple," he winked at the little girl who was almost bouncing in joy. "Here," Walter turned towards the counter with an excited smile and took a little bowl into his hand. "Smell this." He reached it towards Gracie who instantly ran away from his grandfather and hide behind the chair Olivia was now occupying.
Nina looked at the younger woman questioningly. Olivia just shrugged.
"There is a rule in this house," she explained while they could hear the front door open and shut. The girls quickly exited the room. "If Walter asks you to smell something… run." Olivia smiled at the other woman and stood up to greet her husband. The girls were still clinging to their father when Olivia arrived.
She watched as Peter was talking to their daughters, crouching down and gave him a warm smile when he noticed her. He stood up while Olivia walked up to him. When she was close enough, he took her into his arms and kissed her. Olivia, putting her hands on his hips, smiled into the kiss when she could hear the girls giggling next to them then her smile turned into a full-blown grin when her hands wandered a little.
"Is that a roll of NECCO wafers in your pocket, or you are just happy to see me?" she asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes and Peter actually blushed for a second. Hearing the words of "NECCO wafers", the girls quickly got excited and began to look at their father with big innocent eyes that were practically begging for the delicious sweets. Peter threw an accusing look at his wife then reached into his pocket and produced a pack of Smarties from it.
"Well, it's not the wafers," he held it out for his daughters whose eyes got even more shining than before and after Gracie quickly grabbed it, they gave a hug to their father than disappeared in the kitchen.
"Breakfast first," Olivia called after them with her best I-am-your-mother-tone but when she turned back to Peter, her eyes were full of mirth. She quickly sneaked her arms around her husband and kissed him for real.
"How're you feeling?" Peter asked after they pulled apart.
"Good," was Olivia's simple reply. "A little tired but that is just expected."
"That's good," Peter smiled then looked down at Olivia's large belly and gently caressed it. "And how's my son behaving?"
"Your son?" Olivia raised an eyebrow and Peter just shrugged nonchalantly. "You're hoping because you know that there is no way that I go through this once again if we're having another daughter."
"Maybe… But you know that I'll be happy either way." He kissed her forehead. "So, is he giving you a hard time?"
"Not really. Apart from giving my bladder a good kick in the morning he's behaving himself." This time Peter raised a questioning eyebrow and Olivia was the one who shrugged. Well, maybe both of them were hoping for a boy this time around. "Come on, Walter's making a special breakfast. That's why they came home."
"Should I be worried?"
"Well, let's go and check it out." With that Olivia grabbed Peter's hand and began to pull him towards the kitchen. He stopped her, though.
"And just for the record," Peter felt obliged to make some things clear before they joined the others, "I am happy to see you." Olivia laughed all the way to the kitchen.
By the time they got into the kitchen, Walter, Nina and the girls were seated around the table. Walter and Gracie were happily chewing away on their breakfast while Nina tried to look brave as she held her spoon close to her mouth and seriously contemplated whether she should be adventurous or not. Lizzie almost looked scared as she looked into her bowl that contained some strange-looking goo that looked like an alien life-form ready to attack as soon as the little girl would stick it with her spoon.
Olivia sat down next to Lizzie with a concerned look.
"What is it, honey?"
"I think it's alive," the five-year-old stated. Nina was still regarding the substance on her spoon suspiciously.
"You know," she said, "I may agree with Lizzie."
"Don't be ridiculous, Nina," Walter spoke up through a mouthful of goo. "It's delicious."
Peter, after making sure that the thing in his bowl wasn't alive for sure, stood up and opened the fridge. He took some bananas out of it and gave one to Lizzie then proceeded to offer one to Nina. She didn't notice it, though. She looked mesmerized by the brownish goo. Peter shrugged then held out one for Olivia to take it. Olivia frowned at it.
"I can't eat bananas, they remind me of something else," she looked up at Peter almost embarrassed. Peter looked at her confused but then it dawned on him and suddenly he looked just as embarrassed as Olivia.
"Oh," that was all he could mutter.
"I can't even look at them ever since that… incident," Olivia explained leaning closer to Peter, who just nodded and placed all the remaining bananas in front of Lizzie.
Silence settled on the little group for a while but then Olivia gathered her courage and dug into her portion of goo. Peter looked at her with a disgusted frown while Walter looked clearly satisfied with himself when a little moan escaped Olivia's lips. Nina was still staring at her goo.
"Hmm, that is delicious, Walter," Olivia complimented and quickly devoured it. Walter stood up to hand out the second rounds. Snapping out of her trance and seeing that the yet-unidentified creature was actually eatable in Olivia's opinion, too (because, frankly, one couldn't base a well-founded decision on Walter and Garcie's opnion, or taste at that), Nina finally took the spoon in her mouth then swallowed.
"It tastes like chicken," she remarked after several spoons. Walter beamed and although Lizzie seemed to have warmed up to her little goo – she actually named it Hector –, Peter still had his doubts about consuming the thing.
Olivia was about to dig into her third round when she noticed that Peter hadn't touched his food yet… well, apart from poking it a couple of times. She sighed then, after putting an amount on her spoon, she held it out for Peter.
"If you love me, you taste it!" Olivia narrowed her eyes at Peter, who tentatively leant forward and took the spoon into his mouth. He closed his eyes, not knowing what to expect.
"Come on, daddy, swallow it!" Gracie urged him. Peter took a deep breath then swallowed. Gracie clapped and Walter joined in. Nina smirked as she kept eating and Olivia, too, went back to her breakfast. It was only Lizzie, who showed any kind of sympathy towards him.
"You see, sweetie," Peter smile at his daughter, "loves makes the sane man crazy."
After breakfast Walter offered to do the dishes and asked Nina to do the drying. She agreed and when they got to their work Olivia and Peter left the kitchen with the girls and settled down in the living room. Lizzie and Gracie were visibly getting more and more excited about the upcoming visit to the zoo so they couldn't talk about anything else but about their plans. They were chatting away merrily while their parents just sat there with a tiny smile on their faces and listened to them, enjoying that simple fact that their girls were so happy. The girls showed their drawings to Peter, who surprised Olivia by instantly recognizing the messy lines on both of the drawings as sheep. He wasn't even taken aback by the strange color of Gracie's sheep.
It didn't take long for Nina and Walter to emerge from the kitchen. They were in the middle of a friendly banter which was more and more common recently and Walter surprised everybody when he petted Nina on her butt as he passed by to sit down in the armchair. Nina let out a little yelp as every head turned towards Walter.
"It must have been Cupid's arrow," he shrugged with a satisfied smirk then winked at the still stunned woman. The girls promptly broke out in singing "Grandpa and Miss Sharp kissing on a tree" and Olivia, together with Peter, found the situation so hilarious that they didn't even think about tell them to stop.
The girls were still singing when a little later they left with Walter and Nina for the zoo. They were happily jumping up and down around the adults as they left the house while Olivia and Peter were standing in the door, watching their retreating forms.
"We'll be back tomorrow, son. Don't do anything that I wouldn't do!" Walter called behind his back while he sneaked an arm around Nina. "I am wondering whether sex at 90 is like trying to play pool with a rope," Olivia and Peter could hear Walter talking to Nina as they made their way to the car that was waiting for them and they really hoped that Walter wouldn't keep up that line of the conversation with the kids around.
When the car left, Peter led Olivia into the house and closed the door, then turned and took his wife into his arms. He kissed her then rested his forehead against hers and gave her a smile.
"Listen," he told her and they smiled at each other when only silence surrounded them. "Happy Valentine's Day, 'Livia."
THE END