Chapter 3

Olivia lay in bed facing the ceiling. A single beam of moonlight rested gently on her face. It was midnight and she hadn't slept a wink. Thousands of thoughts were racing through her mind in an effort to console her, but they had all been in vein. She looked over to see Alex facing the opposite way. There lied the love of her lift who had been hurt, but not hurt by some random and unimportant stranger, but by her own wife and the two kids that everyone knew she wanted to care for. They'd never gotten into an argument like this before. Alex had never been so crushed and confused about what to do in her entire life. She'd always been the problem solver, and Olivia had always been right by her side supporting her. Ben and Grace added a new element to everything though, they were the curve ball that neither Alex nor Olivia had seen coming. They came into the middle of something that on the outside looked to be perfect, and had pinned them against one another for the first time. Was this what us was going to be like if Ben and Grace were adopted, or if they ended up having kids on their own? That was the question that Olivia couldn't get to go away.

"Are you asleep?" Olivia asked gently as she rolled her body so that she was facing Alex.

"No, and you haven't been either; I know that without even turning around." Alex replied immediately, as if she had been waiting for Olivia to make the first move.

"What have you been doing all of this time?" Olivia asked.

"The same thing you've been doing, thinking." Alex responded. She was still facing away from Olivia, and Olivia was starting to get annoyed with her.

"I'm sorry for putting us in the situation, I should have kept quiet and listened to you," Olivia said with real regret in her voice.

"Don't be sorry, Ben and Grace aren't stupid, they would have figured it out, and it would have been worse," Alex said starting to cry.

Olivia couldn't take Alex crying on top of her not looking at her as she tried to console her. Without thinking about it any longer, Olivia grabbed Alex's shoulder, pulled her toward her, and then brought Alex into her; Alex's face was now nestled in Olivia's shoulder and upper chest.

Alex had always been the one with Olivia nestled in her shoulder. Ben and Grace's curve ball brought the need for Olivia to take control, and be strong so Alex didn't always have to be. When she thought of this situation that way, Olivia was grateful to Benjamin and Grace for coming and turning their world upside down.

"You're beautiful," Olivia said running her hands through Alex's hair.

"You're beautiful and strong, so strong that sometimes you forget you're human, and that you don't need to be strong all of the time. From this point on I'm going to be strong with you and for you, the way you've been there for me these past 5 years."

Alex's cried dulled to a low whimper before she looked up at Olivia. Her face was bright red and puffy, but Olivia saw only the breathtaking beauty her wife had always had. Alex smirked slightly before sitting up to kiss Olivia. They kissed each other the way they had at their wedding, with hope for each other and themselves, but also out of pure and indescribable love for one another.

"I love you Olivia." Alex said clearing her throat, and wiping her eyes.

"I love you for making an honest effort and considering my feelings, you're irreplaceable and my one true love."

Alex and Olivia cuddled for nearly an hour after they had made up, they would have cuddled until the sun rose, but Olivia remembered the reasons they had fought and made up over.

"What are we going to say to Benjamin and Grace?!" Olivia said loud enough to scare Sam who was asleep just outside of their bedroom door.

"We'll figure it out in the morning." Alex said before kissing Olivia's neck, trying to get her focus back on cuddling.

"We won't have time, and if they go to school and tell anyone about what having, when they don't have the proper clarification, you know we'll have a social worker come to our door ready to take Ben and Grace from us. No one wants that." Olivia said moving her neck out of Alex's reach.

"So what are we going to do?" Alex asked sitting up trying not to huff over the loss of her cuddling time.

"We'll have to talk to them right now." Olivia stated

Alex leaned over and began nuzzling Olivia's neck in one last effort you get what she wanted.

Olivia pushed her away and rolled her eyes.

"You're an animal, I hope you know that," Olivia said trying not to chuckle.

"It's 2 in the morning Olivia." Alex said finally giving up the hope.

"That doesn't matter right now, they need to be talked to."

"You go grab them and I'll figure out what to say, and when you get back, follow my lead.

Without any further conversation Alex got out of bed and went down the hall to get Ben and Grace. She came back a few moments later with Grace draped over her shoulder, and Ben staggering next to them holding Alex's hand. Alex leaned over the bed and Olivia grabbed Grace from her shoulder, before she lifted Ben, who was starting to wake up onto the bed. Olivia's legs were crossed so she sat Grace on top of them, Ben sat in front of Alex rubbing his eyes.

"Wake up honey," Olivia said delicately as she stroked Grace's hair.

Grace stirred and whined softly as she began to wake up.

"You're Aunt Alexandra and I need to take to you about what happened this afternoon." Olivia said

"We know you were upset and we're very sorry, we didn't tell you as soon as we found out, we just thought that it'd be easier to tell you when you were older. We love you both so very much, we never wanted to see you hurt, but that just hurt you more." Olivia said softly

"We care about you two so much we wanted to make you our kids, but we never considered your feelings, and we're sorry about that. Just know that whether you end up with another family or with us, you'll always be our babies." Alex added.

"Ben, I know it's late but do you understand what we're saying?" Olivia asked.

"Yes Aunt Olivia, I'm sorry about getting so mad today, I didn't know you were trying to stop us from feeling sad and abandoned," He yawned.

"Grace, do you understand?" Olivia asked

Grace had already fallen back to sleep by then.

"Tomorrow we're going to go find out where you two are going to be staying, but for now back to bed, you have school in the morning." Olivia said to Ben

Alex helped Ben off of the bed and he began walking back to his room.

"Ben." Olivia said loud enough for him to hear from around the corner.

"Yes?" Ben answered

"No video game or television for 5 days starting tomorrow, you know better than to raise you voice, and you especially don't raise your voice to adults." Olivia said authoritatively

"That's not fair!" Ben whined

"I'll make it 10 days!" Olivia responded

"No, please," he pleaded

"Then go to bed, now." Olivia said

Ben ran down the hall and into his room.

"Want me to take Grace back to her room?" Alex asked getting up.

"No, she can sleep with us tonight." Olivia said laying her down gently in between them.

"When did you become a no nonsense mom?" Alex asked trying not to laugh.

"I have no idea, but it felt great." Olivia chuckled softly.

"Goodnight my love." Olivia smiled.

"Goodnight boss," Alex laughed.