DISCLAIMER: Elliot and Olivia aren't mine. Doesn't stop me from loving them like they are, though! Also, song genius: "Landline" by Greg Laswell.
This chapter is Rated M for mature content!
A/N: Sorry for the delay. I've been suffering from a bit of writer's block. Please read and review. You have no idea what it does for an author's motivation!
I think the tree may fall in the front yard
if this storm has its way
I hear you dancing on the floorboards above
unaware of what's at stake
Elliot stared at the ceiling from his bed in Olivia's guest bedroom, his hands tucked behind his head, listening to the sound of a steady rain falling outside. A storm was rolling in, he could tell, as the curtains of his open window moved softly in the breeze. He knew he should get up and close it, but he couldn't bring himself to move.
He knew Olivia was lying in her bed, just on the other side of the wall her room shared with his. He could practically feel her, sense her presence. Slowly, he reached one hand up and pressed it to the wall behind his head. It was silly, he knew, but it made him feel closer to her.
He'd struggled all day to keep from touching her, kissing her, but he'd done it. He would respect her wishes, do right by her. He would fix this.
They'd had a good day. They spent it on her porch mostly, talking, drinking coffee, catching up. He waited for her while she picked Maggie up from school and dropped her at day care. He grinned when he saw her car pull into the driveway; he had to fight the urge to jump up, bound down the steps, grab her and press her to him.
When it was time to pick Maggie up for the day, Elliot went with her. His heart surged when he saw Olivia's daughter run to her, squeal "Mommy!" and launch herself into Olivia's arms. Olivia laughed and lifted her daughter off the ground, covering her in kisses and swinging her around. When Maggie's feet were firmly planted on the ground, she ran to Elliot and wrapped herself around his leg, squeezing him tight and singing out "Hi, Elliot!"
At that moment, Elliot realized that he loved this little girl as his own daughter. He would do anything to make her happy. And he wanted to make a life with her and her mother. He needed the chance to make it right. They deserved nothing less, considering all the heartbreak they had both endured.
A flash of lightning set the room ablaze, followed by a loud rumble of thunder and finally, a down-pouring of rain. Finally, Elliot threw back his quilt and swung his feet to the floor, silently standing and crossing the room to the open window. Upon quietly shutting it, he heard tiny footsteps and tiny cries run down the hallway.
Then, he heard her voice. "What's wrong, sweetheart? Did the storm scare you?"
While he couldn't hear, Elliot determined that little Maggie had responded in the affirmative, because Olivia said, "Why don't you come snuggle with me?"
Maggie's little feet padded softly across the floorboards and then there was silence. Elliot slowly crossed the room to his door, creaking it open and silently taking the three steps into Olivia's doorway. Upon seeing him there, Olivia smiled over her daughter's small head. "Hey," she whispered.
Maggie's tear streaked face turned toward him in that moment and Elliot felt his heart surge. "Elliot," she hiccupped. "Are you scared of the storm, too?"
Elliot smiled and replied softly, "I don't like them much, Maggie. But I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"If you're scared, you can come cuddle with me and Mommy," Maggie whispered. "She makes me not scared anymore." Another flash of lightning streaked through the room and the little girl buried her face into her mother's neck.
Seeing her distress, Elliot crossed the room and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed. "Hey, sweetie, it's okay," he rubbed Maggie's back softly. "I know it can be scary, but do you know what thunder is?"
"What?" she said through her tears, looking back at Elliot again.
"It's angels. They're bowling."
With that, Maggie giggled. "Bowling?"
"Yeah," Elliot grinned. "The loud thunder crashes are all the pins they're knocking down."
Maggie giggled again and snuggled into her mother's side. "Will you lay down next to me, Elliot?"
Elliot looked to Olivia who simply stared at him with soft, sweet eyes. "Of course I will, sweetheart." He moved himself back against the headboards and stretched his arm around the pair of them, resting his hand just behind Olivia's head. She smiled warmly at him.
"Try to sleep now, Mags, okay?" Olivia whispered, stroking her daughter's hair back from her face and softly kissing her forehead.
As Maggie took a deep breath and closed her eyes, Elliot just looked at Olivia. He couldn't take his eyes from her face. She was so beautiful, bathed in the flashes of lightning that lit up the room. He gently picked up the hand that was resting on the headboard behind her and touched her cheek, smiling softly as she turned her face toward his touch.
All I ever needed was a landline
just in case the power lines go down
All I needed would never be enough for me
She couldn't take her eyes from his face. She still had trouble believing he was so near to her, that he could love her, that he was in her bed. That said, she couldn't think of any place she'd rather be. Next to him. It was her rightful place in this world.
The storm surged outside, but Olivia simply wrapped herself in this cocoon she'd created around her, Elliot and Maggie. In that moment, she was content. She needed nothing else. Only her daughter safe and sound, curled up against her, and Elliot's hand on her cheek.
Time slipped away as Olivia and Elliot gazed at each other wordlessly. She had no idea how long they stared at each other, but soon Olivia felt her daughter's steady breathing against her and, tearing her eyes from Elliot's face, looked down to find her sleeping soundly. She smiled gently, loving the soft, sweet look on her daughter's face, feeling comforted at her contentment.
Maggie was clearly taken with Elliot and felt safe with him close by. She'd never known her father and Olivia's heart wept for that. Before Elliot had come back into her life, Olivia's worry for her daughter growing up without a father-figured consumed her. Would Maggie ever get to attend a father/daughter dance? Would she have someone to walk her down the aisle when she met a man she loved and decided to marry him? Would her children have someone they could call "Grampa?" Would this little girl ever have someone she could call "Daddy?"
Those thoughts had rapidly changed when Elliot kissed her that afternoon. Her worries all but ceased. Elliot could be Maggie's daddy; he was enamored with her, Olivia knew. But he already had five children, all of whom lived back in New York City. Could she really ask him to be a father to her child as well?
As she looked back up into his face, she smiled and knew the answer to that question immediately. For Elliot's eyes were smiling down on Maggie's sleeping face and Olivia knew he already thought of her as his own.
She couldn't help but think of Greyson. How much he would have loved Maggie, how alike they were. She was proud that her daughter was so like her father and, despite the fact that he was gone and Olivia had to move on, would continue tell her stories about Grey, how brave and kind and funny he was, about how he would talk and coo to his unborn child growing in Olivia's belly, about how excited he was to become a father.
She hoped that Greyson was smiling down on them now, pleased that Olivia had fallen in love again and found a good man to help her raise their child. She knew he would want her to be happy. She knew he'd be pleased with the daughter she'd raised so far and the decisions she continued to make where Maggie was concerned. She knew he would have liked Elliot. She knew he was okay with her choice. She felt it in her heart.
Olivia quietly broke the comfortable silence between her and Elliot. She whispered, "I should get her back to bed."
Elliot's eyes met hers and he smiled. "Let me."
Olivia returned his warm smile and simply said, "Okay."
I think the storm may take the screen door
if the wind gets its way
I hear you singing on the floor just below
unaware of what's at stake
Elliot gently cradled Maggie in his arms, silently carrying her down the hall to her bedroom. So gently, he laid her down in her little bed and, kneeling next to the small wooden structure, he pulled her quilt over her tiny shoulders.
He touched her soft, dark hair and looked at her eyelashes brushing her rosy cheeks. She looked so like Olivia and Elliot smiled for that. He leaned down and gently kissed the girl's temple. She stirred, sighed and turned over without waking. He smiled and whispered, "Goodnight, Maggie."
Touching her hair one last time, he stood and silently crossed the room, clicking on a little light shaped like an owl and partially closing her bedroom door. He softly padded down the hallway and peaked into Olivia's room. She was leaning back against her pillows and watching the storm rage outside, listening to the rain pound against her windows.
He smiled at her apparent contentedness. She was so much happier here, in the peace and quiet, than she'd ever been in the hustle and bustle of New York. She fit here, she made sense. He had always thought she was beautiful. But here, in the lush green of Oregon, she glowed. Of course, that may have had something to do with her beautiful daughter, but he liked to think that she would have bloomed out here even without Maggie.
He quickly shook that thought from his head. A life without Maggie was impossible to think of. Elliot knew he would have to go back to New York. And soon. And the thought of being without Olivia, without Maggie was almost too much to bear.
He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that Olivia was looking at him. "Elliot?" she whispered. He looked at her and gave her a small smile. "Everything okay?" She sat up a little straighter in her bed.
Elliot nodded. "Maggie is sound asleep."
"Thank you," Olivia whispered. "She adores you."
Elliot grinned. "I adore her, too, Liv. She is a wonderful little girl; you've done an amazing job."
Olivia smiled and bit her lip. "Thank you," she breathed. "Sometimes, I wish more than anything that I wasn't doing it alone." She sighed softly and, as she stared back out the window, a look of sadness washed over her pretty features. "She will never know her father, Elliot. I wish I could give her her Daddy back."
Elliot nodded his understanding and crossed the room to sit on the edge of Olivia's bed. "I didn't know him," he started softly. "But I know that he would be so proud of you. I am proud of you, Olivia. I always knew you'd make an incredible mother."
His words brought Olivia back to the present and she turned her head, smiling softly at him. "Thank you," she whispered again, reaching out and grasping his hand.
Elliot squeezed his response and smiled. After a moment, he spoke again. "Goodnight, Olivia."
She smiled, releasing his hand. "Goodnight, Elliot."
He touched her cheek once more, rose and quietly padded out of the room. Once back in the confines of the guest bedroom, he sighed softly and proceeded to climb back into bed. Just as he was about to lay back on the pillows, he saw her frame outlined in the doorway. He stared at her wordlessly and, after what seemed like an eternity, she crossed the room to him and, taking his face in her hands, covered his mouth with her own.
All I ever needed was a landline
just in case the power lines go down
All I needed would never be enough for me
She had no idea what possessed her to go to him. All reason told her to stay in her own room. He was married. She had a daughter to think of. He would eventually have to go back to New York. She was a widow. They had an entire history between the two of them, one that was both beautiful and terrible, and she wasn't sure they'd be able to overcome it.
But she loved him.
She needed him.
She wanted him.
So, she went to him. Her feet carried her forward of their own volition and soon, she was wrapped in his arms, kissing him, touching him, feeling him. They both balanced on their knees atop the guestroom's bed, his fingers ran through her hair while hers wound around his waist, pressing him to her.
She felt his tongue trail down her neck, felt his mouth gently suck on the skin behind her ear, branding her, marking her. She knew, despite her immense love for Greyson, she had always been Elliot's. They had always belonged to each other.
Suddenly, she felt Elliot's mouth leave her body. He was there, in front of her, looking into her eyes, his own eyes full of questions. His fingers were tracing the outlines of her face, the muscle memory recalling their years together. "Olivia?" His voice was soft.
She brought her hands to his face and began the same process of outlining his features, of learning Elliot all over again. She leaned forward and kissed him softly. "Elliot," she murmured against his lips. "I love you."
She knew that truer words had never been spoken.
All I ever needed was a landline
just in case the power lines go down
All I needed would never be enough for me
As soon as the words tumbled from her mouth, Elliot knew it was over. His life as he knew it was finished. He had everything he needed right here in the quaint family home in Portland, Oregon. He would do whatever it took to be here with Olivia, with the little girl he thought of as his own daughter.
"Olivia," he breathed. He couldn't stop kissing her. It was as if he was afraid she'd slip away. He took her hips in his hands and gently guided her onto the bed, covering her body with his own. He slid his hands under the camisole she wore and trailed it up her body before discarding it to the floor. Each time a new piece of skin was revealed, he kissed it.
She seemed to have the same idea, for as she pulled his t-shirt over his head, she brought her mouth to his broad shoulders and covered them with hot, open-mouthed kisses. She ran her fingertips up his spine, causing him to shiver involuntarily. He loved it.
The feeling of her breasts pushed up against the skin of his chest was almost too much for him to take. He distracted himself with removing her tiny sleep shorts, which soon joined the matching camisole on the floor. Upon removing this last bit of clothing, he sat back on his heels and took in the sight of her, naked and splayed out before him.
He'd never seen anything so beautiful.
After a moment, she sat up to meet him, kissing his mouth and running her thumbs under the hem of the athletic shorts he'd worn to bed that night. She tugged and he grinned, bringing his hands down to meet hers. Together, they stripped him of his last piece of clothing. Once the last barrier was removed, Olivia smoothly laid back on the bed, her hand behind Elliot's neck, bringing him along with her.
She kissed him once more and nodded almost imperceptibly. Grasping him in her hands, she guided him to the place she most needed him to be; the place he most wanted to be. She was ready for him, her warm wetness surrounding him as he began to slowly push himself inside her, staring into her soft brown eyes and feeling the love radiating from them.
Those eyes widened just slightly and she gasped softly. Elliot paused his motions and breathed, "Am I hurting you?"
She shook her head. "No, you're perfect. It's just been a while."
Elliot nodded. "What can I do? What do you need?"
"Kiss me."
All I ever needed was a landline
just in case the power lines go down
All I needed would never be enough for me
Olivia felt him lean down and capture her lips with his own. His tongue sought entrance into her mouth which she willingly granted, tangling his with her own. Her body molded to his and soon, he was buried deep inside her. She had never known completeness until this moment.
That is, until he began to move.
All I needed would never be enough for me
All I needed would never be enough for me
They breathed heavily, the rises and falls of their chests matching perfectly. He couldn't tear his eyes from hers. Not thirty seconds prior, he had experienced pure bliss. He had felt her shatter around him, pulsing and throbbing, biting down hard on her lip to keep from crying out. Fearing that she would draw blood, Elliot kissed her, absorbed her cries in his mouth, and soon followed her, spiraling into heaven.
As their blood slowed and their eyes locked, grins began to work their way over their faces.
They had everything they needed. Finally.
All I needed would...
All I needed would never be enough for me
All I needed would never be enough for me