Olivia awoke in her bed the next morning, with no real idea of how she got there. She was still wearing her clothes, but her shoes were off and she was tucked up warmly in the bed.
Propping herself up on her elbows, she glanced over to where Joshua's bed was. Panic started to set in when she saw it was empty, but quickly disappeared as she heard clatter from the kitchen and two male voices.
She got up and padded out to the kitchen, where she found Joshua and Elliot making pancakes.
"Morning, Liv," Elliot murmured.
"Hi, Livia!" Josh cried exuberantly, making his way over to hug her around the legs. "Elliot and I making bweakfast!"
"So I see," she smiled. She looked up at Elliot. "Thanks."
"Don't thank me. It was Josh's idea."
"Thank you, as well," Olivia said, leaning over to kiss Josh on the cheek.
"Aren't you gonna kiss Elliot, too?" Josh asked, sticking a finger into the jug of maple syrup.
"Yeah," Elliot smirked. "Aren't you gonna kiss me, too?"
Olivia walked over to him, her hands cupping his face. "Sure." She leant in and pressed a deep kiss to his lips. When she stepped away, she had a small smile on her face. "How's that?"
"Pretty good," Elliot agreed, his thumb brushing over her lips.
Her eyes closed momentarily, before Joshua's cry that he was hungry brought her back to reality.
"Hungry, huh?" she asked Josh.
Josh nodded eagerly.
Elliot grinned at the little boy. "No problem. I bet I can fix that." As he passed Olivia, he trailed his fingers up her arm, watching with delight as she shivered a little. He put some pancakes on a plate for Josh, and set the breakfast at Josh's place.
"Say thank you to Elliot," Olivia reminded him.
Josh smiled sweetly up at Elliot. "Thank you to Elliot."
Olivia chuckled softly and smiled as Elliot handed her a plate. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," he murmured.
They all sat down to the table, and Olivia watched with amusement as Joshua tried to drown his pancakes in maple syrup.
"Don't put too much on, Josh. You do want to be able to taste the pancakes, right?"
Josh simply grinned at her, "Yummy."
"At least leave some for us, okay?" Elliot asked.
"I'll try," Josh said solemnly.
"So, what are you two going to do today?" Elliot said, looking at Olivia.
"Where are you going?" Josh asked.
"Elliot has to go to work, Josh," Olivia explained.
"Aren't you gonna go?"
Olivia shook her head. "No. I get to spend two whole weeks with you. When Elliot is free, and if he wants to, he can come spend time with us too."
Joshua looked seriously at Elliot. "Don't forget us."
"I promise, Josh, I could never forget either you or Olivia," Elliot assured him.
"Good," Joshua said, taking a bite of his pancake.
Olivia thought about the idea of being forgotten for a while. She had often wondered if her mother regularly forgot about her after a few drinks.
Elliot rested a hand on her arm. "Liv?"
She blinked out of her trance to smile weakly at him. "Yeah?"
Josh held out the maple syrup. "Your turn now."
Before Elliot left, he cornered Olivia at the front door. "What were you thinking about at breakfast?"
"Nothing," she said quickly.
His hand cupped her face. "Liv."
"What?"
"Don't lie to me."
Olivia pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "You'll be late for work."
"Good. Tell me the truth."
"I can't."
"Sure you can. Just tell me. Say the words."
"Why are you being so stubborn about this?"
"Why are you?"
"Forget about it, Elliot. Please." She looked at him. "Just go to work and forget about it."
He looked oddly at her. "Where is this coming from?"
"Where do you think it's coming from?" she hissed. Biting her lip, she pulled away from his touch. "I'm sorry. That was…never mind."
"You can't shut me out anymore, Liv. It's not fair."
"Not everything in life is fair." She took a deep breath. "Just go to work. Please."
Elliot stared at her for a few moments, before shrugging his coat on. "Fine. But we're discussing this later."
Before Olivia could reply, he'd left, slamming the door behind him. Her body jerked at the sound and she closed her eyes.
"Livia?"
She turned to face Josh. "Hey."
"Why is Elliot mad?"
Olivia sighed. "He's just upset about something."
"What?"
"Just…" She smiled at him. "Just a silly big person thing."
"You're sad."
Olivia picked him up and hugged him tight. "No. I'm feeling great because you're here."
Josh kissed her on the cheek. "Love you, Livvy."
She kissed him on the cheek. "Love you, too. Come on, we've got a lot to do."
During a break from work, Elliot cornered George Huang. "Can I talk to you?"
George nodded. "Of course."
They both headed upstairs where they could talk in private.
"You look concerned," George noticed. "Is everything okay with Olivia?"
"Can you give her counseling?"
George arched an eyebrow. "You've never been a huge fan of my work before. Something must be really worrying you."
"Anything I say, stays between us, right?"
George nodded. "Of course."
"This morning, at breakfast, I told Joshua I had to go to work, but Olivia was staying home. He asked if I was going to forget him, and I told him I'd never forget either him or Olivia. It was almost like Olivia traveled to another place after that. She was staring off into space and when I asked her about it, she got touchy."
"Well," George began, "she was in another place. She was probably wondering how often her mother forgot her."
Elliot groaned. "No wonder she wouldn't tell me. And she asked me where I thought it was coming from."
"Don't blame yourself, Elliot. Olivia's been very careful to keep a lot of those memories and feelings bottled up. They were bound to explode at some point."
"She needs to talk to someone. She won't talk to me about it."
"I'll try and talk to her. But Elliot, she loves you. Maybe she just needs time to work it out for herself before she can explain it to you."
"Clothes?" Josh said, looking up at the store. "I got clothes."
"I know, but you need a few more. You only have a few outfits and it will minimize the amount of washing we do." Olivia took his hand and they went into the store. "And some shoes."
Josh looked down at the ratty old sneakers. "I don't think I ever got new shoes. Not on purpose, anyway." His eyes widened as he saw how big the store was, and how many parents were mulling around with their children. His fingers gripped tightly around Olivia's.
She squeezed his hand reassuringly. "How about we look at shoes first?"
Joshua sat up on one of the chairs, watching Olivia look around the shoe area. His eyes widened when she brought over some boxes.
"Are we getting all those?"
Olivia shook her head. "Nope. We need to try them on and see which ones you like best." She placed the boxes down. "I thought sneakers first."
A sales assistant came over to them and Josh edged back in the seat, pulling his knees up to his chin.
"It's okay Josh," Olivia murmured, putting her hand on his shoulder. "This lady…" she paused and looked at the assistant's nametag, "Meredith, is going to help us get the right size."
Josh started to relax a bit; letting his legs dangle over the side of the chair.
Olivia turned to Meredith. "I want to get Josh some sneakers, rain boots and some shoes he can use for going out."
Meredith nodded. "Okay Josh, do you like any of these?"
Josh looked at the boxes Olivia had brought over and pointed to one.
Olivia sank down into one of the chairs, starting to relax as Josh let Meredith help him with the shoes. It was going to be a long day.