A/N: Thanks to Iwannahamberger2. Here is the next chapter. For more please read and review.
Disclaimer: Don't own anyone or anything you recognize.
The new school year had officially began and Olivia was trying her hardest to take care of her infant son and keep up with her school work. Angie had decided that it was time that Olivia learned how hard it was going to be to get to her career goal now that she was a young mother in her last year of high school.
The alarm clock blared at seven AM sharp, signalling a new school day and Olivia has to be ready by 8:50AM when Angie came to pick her up to take her to the house.
With a groan, Olivia slammed her hand down on the alarm, effectively shutting it up and got up to attend to her son first. To get ready in time, she'd made a routine and she had to stick to it every morning otherwise she'd be so late.
With a tired smile, Olivia walked up to the crib and found her son kicking happily, looking up at his mobile. Upon catching sight of his mommy, Zachary smiled and Olivia picked him up.
"Good morning, kiddo. Breakfast time," she said softly and took a seat in the rocking chair.
She moved her top and guided her son to her breast, who made quick work of filling his tiny belly.
With Zachary fed and changed, Olivia headed in to the living room, where she put him in his rocker and carried him in it in to the bathroom, so she could have a shower.
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It was just after eleven and Olivia was working on her math work when Zac started to cry. "Angie!"
"Pick him up yourself, Olivia! You're his mother!" Angie called back from upstairs. "You have to learn to take care of your son and keep up with your school work!"
With a groan, Olivia threw down her pencil and got up, heading over to the bassinet.
Inside, Zachary's eyes were shut as his tongue vibrated emitting the sound and his tiny fists were clenched as he waved them around angrily.
Sighing, she picked Zachary up and craddled him to her as he headed to the couch. She knew that her son was hungry.
With Zac eating, Olivia sighed, rubbing his chubby arm left bare from the short sleeved onesie, he was wearing. It was white with blue trains on it. "Once mommy has finished feeding and changing you. You can lay on your blanket and play with your dangling toys but you have to be quiet so mommy can do her school work," she whispered, only to be startled by the house phone and Angie running through the living room to answer it.
Exhausted, Olivia let her eyes droop shut as her son continued to suckle slowly, nearly finished his meal.
"Liv."
Startled, Olivia's eyes snapped open to see her mother-in-law standing in the kitchen/ living room doorway. "Yes?" she asked, lifting Zac up to her shoulder and moved her top and bra back down.
"The phone's for you, honey," she whispered with a smile.
Furrowing her brows in confusion as to who would be calling for her, Olivia got up and walked toward the kitchen. "Who?"
"Pass me Zachy to burp, answer the phone and you'll see, honey."
Olivia nodded cautiously, passed Zachary to her and headed in to the kitchen. Nervously, she picked up the reciever. "Hello?"
"Hi baby," a sweet, gentle voice came through.
Gasping in a happy shock, Olivia practically squealed, excitedly. "El!"
"Yes, beautiful, it's me. I'm so glad to hear your sweet, beautiful voice. I miss you so much, baby, so much. How are you? How's our handsome little guy?"
"I'm better now, hearing your voice, El, and Zac is growing quickly, looking more like you each and every single day but with my eyes. He's started smiling too, El, and cooing. I've been taking lots of photos for you," she told her husband, the entire time smiling.
"Aww," Elliot breathed, trying to hold back tears. He missed his family so much. "I'll be looking forward to seeing those photos, baby. I have to go now. I love you, beautiful. I love Zac too, give him a kiss for me."
"I love you too, baby. I will give Zac a kiss for you and I'll be waiting impatiently for your next call."
"And I'll be impatiently waiting to hear your voice again. Bye, baby."
"Bye honey," Olivia replied and hung up. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer and a sob involuntarily escaped from deep within her throat.
She leaned against the kitchen counter and with her head down, she let the tears come. She wanted her husband. For her. For her son. It was Zachary's first year and Elliot was already missing out on some of their son's firsts. Elliot had already missed Zac's first smile and giggle.
Hearing her daughter-in-law's painful sobs, Angie entered the kitchen to see Olivia hunched over the counter, shoulders bouncing with each sharp painful breath.
"It's okay, Liv, let it all out," Angie soothed, wrapping an arm around Olivia.
In response, Olivia turned around and fell in to Angie's embrace, starting to sob in to her shoulder.
Angie wrapped her arms around Olivia and started to rub her back. "That's it, honey, let it all out. You've been bottling it up for way too long."
"I want him home... Where he belongs," she sobbed, "he's missing out on our son's first year."
Continuing to rub Olivia's back, Angie kissed the crown of her head. "I know, sweetie, I know. I totally agree."
"Why?.." she cried, "why did he have to go?"
"He signed up before Zac was born, remember? Once he was called he had to go, Liv. Hopefully he can home before Zac's first birthday," Angie tired to assure her. But it didn't work.
Suddenly, Olivia exhaled a deep breath and gently pulled back.
"Liv?" Angie asked, furrowing her brows, not knowing what to expect next.
Taking a deep breath, Olivia shook her head, wiping away her tears. "I have to get back to my math work," she whispered and headed back in to the living room.
Angie sighed as she watched Olivia head over to the bassinet first and leaned in to give Zachary a kiss on the forehead as he kicked at the dangling toys.
"Having fun, buddy?" Olivia asked in a whisper, rubbing his tiny, chubby belly. "Mommy has to work on her school work, okay, buddy?"
She pried herself away from her son and sat down on the floor at the coffee table, where her work still sat. With a sniffle, she held back her tears and went back to her work before Angie had to make her move on to the next subject, which was psychology..
In silence, Angie continued to watch Olivia and sighed again. Hearing Olivia on the phone talking to Elliot, was the happiest she had heard her since before Elliot left.
Glad that Elliot had given her an address to send mail that he could receive, Angie ran a hand through her long dark brown hair and decided that she would make a start on a letter but first she would make sure Olivia was okay to work on her math for a bit longer.
Squatting down beside her daughter-in-law, Angie rubbed Olivia's arm. "Need any help, sweetie?"
Looking over the sheet, Olivia pointed to a question near the bottom of it. "Ah, I don't really understand this one."
"Okay, let's see. The best way to explain it..."
Once Olivia got the hang of it, Angie left her and headed upstairs to make a start on the letter to Elliot.
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Olivia had just finished her math work when Zac started to scream from the bassinet again.
Approaching the bassinet, Olivia saw her son waving angry fists as his tongue vibrating emitting the shrill sound. "Okay, kiddo. Mommy's got you," she cooed, picking Zac up. "Ooh someone needs a diaper change." She noticed the smell the moment she lifted him up.
After changing him, Zachary still wouldn't settle. Olivia had been trying to get Zac to stop crying for about thirty minutes now. She had given him a bottle, pacifier, rattle, and some more chew toys which he immediately dismissed one by one. She check his diaper and there was nothing there. She tried cooing and shushing but nothing was working.
Olivia held him face leveled which forced him to have to look at her. Tears stained his face and his now pinkish red button nose. She kissed his poked out lips to see if that would calm him down but it didn't. But alas it didn't help. When all else failed Olivia thought she would just join him. Olivia let out a mimicked wail as similar to Zac's as she could. As soon as she started to fake cry Zac silenced and began looking at her with a curious frown. Olivia stopped when she saw he had noticed she was "crying" with him. When she stopped she just looked at his expressions with a soft smile on her face. Zac just looked at her for second more before he began crying again. Olivia mimicked him again and caused him to stop crying and look at her strangely. Just as he was about to open his mouth again to let out a wail Olivia beat him to it and Zac just watch her. After wailing for about three seconds Zac stared at his mother and let out the cutest most hilarious laugh she had ever heard. It caused her to fall back laughing with Zac landing softly against her chest. After they laughed together Olivia gave Zac three raspberry kisses in exchange for one large slobber kiss he planted on her nose. After their little playtime the two fell asleep right there in the middle of the floor.
Angie remerged from upstairs when she finished the letter and found Olivia and Zac still sound asleep on the floor and she wanted nothing more then to just let them be but Olivia needed to finish her school.
She picked Zac up very gently and placed him in the bassinet without waking him before turning to Olivia.
"Wake up, Liv," she whispered, rubbing Olivia's shoulder.
Startled Olivia shot up. "Zac..."
"He's okay. Sound asleep in his bassinet. You did a good job getting him back to sleep but we need to move on with your work....You're falling behind in the work and to pass your exams, you need to get your work done quicker," she explained, softly.
Tears started to well up in Olivia's exhausted mocha brown eyes. "I... I can't keep up. It's too hard with Zac. I can't do it," she whispered.
Rubbing Olivia's upper arm again, Angie said, "I know you might think I don't care sometimes, honey, but you have to learn how to take care of Zac and keep up with your school work. Got to learn to multi task and be organized. Put him in his seat, so he can kick his toys and work at the same time. Do a few questions, rub his legs, pull some faces, make him giggle, do a few more questions and repeat. And while he's asleep work straight through."
Olivia nodded and rubbed her sore eyes from lack of sleep. "Okay," she replied and went back over to the coffee table, back to her work.
"Okay, Liv, time to move on to psychology."
Angie explained everything and left Olivia to work on the sheet, only to reutrn an hour later to check up on her.
She walked back in to the living room to find Olivia sound asleep again. Her head and arms on the coffe table as she lightly snored.
She sighed and headed over. "Hi handsome, your mommy fell asleep," she whispered to Zac.
Picking him up, Angie kissed his forehead and placed him on the blanket on the floor to play with some toys before kneeling beside Olivia.
"Liv, wake up, honey. It's time for lunch," she spoke softly, gently easing her daughter-in-law awake.
Startled, Olivia jumped. She lifted up her head and her eyes snapped open. "Oh crap! I... I didn't mean to fall asleep again," she apologized.
Rubbing Olivia's arm, Angie said, "It's okay, Liv. Is Zacy keeping you up?"
Exhaling an exhausted, shaky breath, Olivia nodded. "Yeah," she whispered.
"Okay, come have some lunch."
Sitting at the table eating, Angie watched Olivia closely and licked her bottom lip in thought. Olivia was more exhausted then what she had been before Elliot left. Olivia was struggling. "Liv?"
"Yeah?"
"I want you and Zac here tonight."
"Angie..."
"No honey. You and Zacy are sleeping here tonight and I'll handle him when he cries during the night. Just make sure you have a few bottles of pumped milk for him, okay?"
Olivia nodded with a thankful smile. "Thank you. I could really use the sleep."
Rubbing the back of Olivia's hand, Angie nodded. "Yeah, you do and you also need to keep up with your school work. So eat up, then get back to it. I'll look after Zacy unless you need to feed him."
"Thank you, Angie. So much."