"Miss Rivera!"
Natalia looked up, smiling when she saw the head of housekeeping rushing towards her. "Marie!" She said warmly. While she got along well with the majority of the staff, Natalia had a special place in her heart for the small, energetic woman. Even though she had once been her boss, Maria hadn't batted an eye when she had leap-frogged up to take the position of Olivia's assistant; she had merely accept the reversal of roles and gone about her business as though the brunette had always been her boss. "What can I do for you? And I've told you before, call me Natalia."
"Oh no, that I can't do!" The French-Creole woman smiled broadly, her slight Cajun accent only making her all the more delightful.
"I called you Marie when I worked for you." The brunette reminded her gently.
"Maybe... maybe. But I'm no lady, not like you are."
"Oh..." Natalia raised her eyebrows as her lips quirked to the side. "I don't know that that label applies to me either."
"No... you're a lady." Marie smiled at her slyly. "Regardless of... anything... you're still a lady."
Natalia's mouth dropped open slightly. She almost asked her what she meant, and then decided she probably didn't want to know. "Did you need me for something?"
"I got three of my girls out sick and no way to clean all them rooms 'less you approve the overtime." She shrugged, holding out a clipboard. "You know I wouldn't ask..."
"I do." Natalia raised her hand to cut off the reassurances she didn't need to hear. "I know how tight you are with overtime, remember?" She took the time cards and scribbled her name across them quickly. "Did you need anything else?"
"No, ma'am!" Marie snapped her fingers. "But there's a preacher man waitin' outside of Ms. Spencer's office. Saw him when I was looking for you."
"A..." Natalia licked her lips nervously. "A priest?"
"Yes, ma'am. Tall fella, with the collar and all." She patted the brunette gently on the arm. "You be alright?"
"What? Oh, of course!" She smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine." She watched Marie rush off towards the elevators before heading towards the hallway that led to the hotel offices. When she turned the corner, she saw Father Ray at the far end. The priest looked anxious as he paced back and forth in front of the door with Olivia's name on it, his hands clasped together tightly as though he might drop to his knees at any moment and begin praying.
"So I guess that's a no on the quiet afternoon?" Natalia muttered softly as she walked towards the office. "Father Ray!" She smiled. "This is a pleasant surprise."
The priest looked up at the sound of her voice, his eyes going hard as they focused on her.
Natalia felt her legs weaken under the scrutiny and squared her shoulders, using pure force of will to keep from dropping her gaze to the floor.
"I wish I could say the same." The priest said quietly.
"I beg your pardon?"
"It's not my pardon you need to beg."
"Okay," Natalia looked around in confusion. "Obviously you have something you need to say, so why don't we go inside Olivia's office and-"
"Why?" He looked down at her, a mixture of sorrow, anger and pity in his eyes. "Are you so ashamed of what we need to speak about that you would run and hide?"
"I... I don't know what you're talking about."
"I went to visit Rafe at the halfway house this morning."
Natalia felt the bottom fall out of her stomach.
"I am sure you can guess the news he had to share with me." The priest continued. "Natalia... how could you involve yourself in such a manner with that... that woman?"
"Involve myself?" She repeated. "Father, I love her."
"No." He held up his hand. "No, you're confused. Olivia Spencer... stories of her exploits... they've even reached so far as my ears." He said gently. "She's confused you, controlled you, made you into something... your son can barely recognize."
"Rafe..." Natalia swallowed weakly. "He... he's upset?"
Father Ray frowned, the muscles of his jaw clenching. "No. That's the worst part. He actually believes that you... that you love this woman. That she loves you; and that it's okay."
"He does?" A small smile curled the edges of her lips.
"Natalia!" He took her shoulders in her hands, squeezing them firmly. "You have to listen to me! This isn't love! This is just some... some twisted desire born out of the desperation you must have felt after Gus' death. Can't you see that? The fact that you chose Olivia, the woman that has his heart, should be more than enough to convince you of that."
"Chose?" Natalia felt tears stinging her eyes but refuse to let them fall. "I didn't choose anyone, Father. I didn't ask for any of this."
"I know, I know." He wrapped his arms around her, holding her. "Trust in me, trust in God and we can get you through this."
"What? Wait!" She pushed him away gently. "I appreciate what you're trying to do here, Father, really I do; but I don't need to be saved." She sighed, exhaling roughly as she brushed the hair out of her eyes. "I... have spent so many days just... praying about this, asking God for his wisdom, for a sign to show me what I should do. This didn't just happen. I have felt this way for a long... long time. And every day that I spent fighting it, I spent confused; my head and heart in turmoil as I tried to understand why I would ever feel this way about a woman. This woman in particular."
"That's exactly my point! Olivia Spencer doesn't deserve-"
"You wouldn't know the first thing about what she deserves." Natalia said quietly. "All Olivia ever wanted was for me to be happy. And even though she loved me, she was willing to watch me marry someone else because she thought he could make me happy." She shrugged. "But he couldn't."
"You don't know that!"
"Yes I do, Father." She placed her hands on his arms. "After the wedding... I spent the night alone at the farmhouse... and for the first time, I didn't try to pray. I just closed my eyes and opened my heart and I felt this... this incredible peace. It filled me with light and with love and the only thing I could see in my head and in my heart... was Olivia. And when I stopped fighting it, when I accepted what it meant... I felt such joy..."
"No!" He shook his head emphatically. "The flesh is weak, Natalia. It lies to us, it tricks us... it can make us believe that lust is love!"
"You..." She flushed, looking away. "You think all I feel... is lust?"
"It's a powerful emotion." He said softly. "One that can make us act contrary to our very nature."
Natalia closed her eyes, trying to stop the maelstrom of thoughts swirling around in her head. Father Ray was very convincing, very charismatic. But then, she had never met a priest that wasn't. "It's more than that..." She said weakly.
"You feel like it's more than that," He grabbed her hands, closing them within his own as he leaned closer. "But it really isn't. Are you willing to risk eternity... for a lie?"
She swallowed, her lips trembling as she tried to think of something to say.
"And what about Rafe?"
"Rafe?" She blinked in confusion.
"The sins of the father shall be visited upon the son, Natalia. The bible shows us that the examples we set for our children are the templates they use when they make their own decisions." His features hardened. "Do you really want to teach your son that this behavior, this... abnormal lust, is acceptable? Do you really want someone like Olivia Spencer to be one of his role models? It's one thing to risk your immortal soul." Father Ray's voice rose like he was on the pulpit. "But I would have thought you cared more... for your son's."
Natalia's eyes cleared, her expression changing so rapidly that the priest took a surprised step backwards. "That is enough!" She growled at him.
He raised his hands to cut her off but the anger in her eyes stopped him cold.
"You come here, to my work, spouting all these platitudes about good Catholic behavior and how I'm corrupting my son." She swallowed, trying to hold the hard edge of her anger in and failing miserably. "Well let me tell you something, Father." She raised one hand, tapping him in the middle of his chest, the force of her words pushing him backwards until he collided with the wall. "When I was sixteen, it was the 'goodness' that you're preaching now that caused my own parents to throw me out of our home. They abandoned me, and their grandson, because the church told them I was wrong to want to keep and love my child. So I worked and I fought to scratch together a life for us, a life that I never turned away from God's path, or his teachings; a life that included the church, and prayer, and atonement for the sins I believed I had committed."
She took a deep breath and dropped her hand. "But you know what I finally realized? That nineteen years ago, I followed my heart. And for that act of trust and belief, God granted me the most incredible gift he could have ever given me. He gave me my son." She laughed softly. "And maybe he isn't perfect. Maybe he makes mistakes, just like we're supposed to. But he is mine! And I managed to raise him on nothing but sweat and tears... and faith. Now, nineteen years later... I have the chance to follow my heart again. To follow my heart... or to follow the teachings of the church. If I had done that last time, I would never have known the joy of motherhood. I would have lived the rest of my life knowing that my son called someone else 'Mom'." She shrugged. "So if you think you can come here and wave my child in front of me like some...some bad example... to get me to turn away from Olivia, then you are sadly mistaken. I love Rafe, I love Olivia... and God loves me. I don't really give a damn what your opinion is on the matter!" She smiled sweetly. "Have a nice day."
Natalia left him standing there with his jaw on the floor as she walked away, her body shaking with unspent emotion. She reached the end of the hallway and turned the corner, running into Olivia who was just stepping off the elevator.
"Whoa, there tiger!" Olivia smiled as she caught Natalia by the arms to steady her.
"Where the hell have you been?" Natalia demanded.
"I was upstairs looking for you..." The smile faded as she took in the younger woman's wild expression and her trembling shoulders. "Natalia? Are you alright?" She blinked in surprise when the brunette grabbed her arm and dragged her back into the elevator. Without speaking, she reached up and took Olivia's face between her hands as the door slid shut behind them. They stared into each other eyes for a moment and then Natalia was kissing her.
Really kissing her.
Olivia felt the energy and emotion the younger woman was pouring into the kiss from the top of her head all the way down to her toes, which were curling inside of her $900 Jimmy Choo boots. When the brunette finally released her, she stumbled back slightly, bracing herself on the railing that ran the length of the elevator wall.
"What..." She panted softly, trying to catch her breath. "What did I do to deserve that?"
Natalia smiled.
"No really, tell me." Olivia grabbed her by the lapels and pulled her close again, rubbing the tip of her nose against the sensitive skin on the side of Natalia's neck. "Because I want to make sure I do it as often as possible."
"You didn't do anything, Olivia." The brunette whispered, her lips nuzzling gently against the older woman's ear. "You never have to do anything to make me love you. I just do." She felt Olivia swallow and smiled. "Now take me home."
"Home?" Olivia pulled her head back so she could look at her in surprise. "It's not even one o'clock yet!"
Natalia pursed her lips. "Aren't you the boss around here?"
"That's the rumor." The older woman smirked. "Although sometimes I wonder."
Natalia rubbed up against her, one thigh pressing firmly into the subtle ache that seemed to live between her legs these days. "Then take me home. Emma has school and then a play date until six. That's plenty of time."
Olivia placed her thumb against the "Close Doors" button, holding it down. "Plenty of time for what?"
"For you to pack up your things and move them into our room." Natalia smiled. "And for us to maybe try out the cohabitation thing...just a little..."