You should know by now that I mean this when I say it...but...Buckle Up.

#Tuckson #Always

"Ed. Ed, baby," Olivia breathed out in a whisper, throwing her head back as her husband sucked behind her ear. "Just like that…"

Ed slowly and gently moved in and out of his wife, making sure every inch of their skin that could touch, was in fact touching, as he took his time loving Olivia.

The couple had gotten in from Noah's last T-ball game of the summer, sans their son, as he had been invited to go play with his friend Tommy and eat pizza. It was the first time the Tuckers had been faced with Noah not being at home, with someone other than a family member. Once they realized they had a few hours alone, Ed dove in head first and began to methodically kiss at Olivia, working her body into a frenzy.

Half an hour later, they moved from the couch to their bed, and he began to make love to her so gently that Olivia wondered if he was worried about breaking her. But she wasn't going to complain. With Charlie planning on having Lisa over for coffee that evening, she was needing an incredible amount of reassurance from her husband, and he was definitely providing that.

"Olivia…" he moaned out, moving his lips from behind her ear and across her neck, sucking gently. "I love you, baby. So much. Love. Love. Love…." Ed made sure to suck and lick at her neck in between each time he said the word love. And each time, Olivia would let out a little whimper and egg him on further.

"Yeah, baby?" He whispered as he removed his head from her neck and nuzzled her nose with his. "You like that?"

"Yessssssss," she said, her hands gripping his behind and her legs opening wider. "Yes, baby…don't stop."

"I don't plan on it," he said with a gleam in his eye before beginning to move just a little faster inside of Olivia.

"That's it."

"God."

"Right there."

"Yeah?"

"Yesssssssssssss."

"I love you," Ed said as he collapsed on top of Olivia, softening inside of her but not ready to roll over.

"I love you more," she responded as she played with his hair.

"Not possible."

An hour later they were lounging on the sectional in their sweats, exchanging kisses and staring at some movie neither of them knew playing on the television. Despite their mid-afternoon tryst, Olivia was still struggling with her emotions surrounding Lisa's impending evening with her daughter and granddaughter. Ed, totally aware of the direction her head was traveling in, just held her and kissed her and would occasionally whisper to her.

"Liv, it's going to be fine," he finally said, in a more firm tone than he had been using.

"You don't know that," she said, shaking her head and sitting up to look at him.

"I do know that," he said. "I know that Charlie is your daughter. Through and through."

"Ed…"

"No," he said, moving to cup her face and forced her to look at him. "Stop doubting that. She is. She loves you. She calls you Momma. Lisa coming over tonight isn't going to change that. In fact, it will probably just solidify our entire family."

Olivia just looked at him with a sad smile. She knew he was right, but there was something stirring in her gut, maybe Mother's Intuition, but she couldn't' quite pinpoint what it was about. All she knew was that when Charlie and Lizzie left the apartment that morning, she stood for a while just looking at the door with her arms wrapped around herself. She had smothered Lizzie in kisses and held on to Charlie a bit longer and a little tighter than she usually did. It was as if she was being forced to let them go, even momentarily, from her safe haven. And she didn't like it one bit.

"It's either learning to share our daughter," Olivia said, her fingers playing with the thin hair on Ed's arms. "Or our daughter being hurt. Again."

"Liv…" Ed breathed out, knowing she was right, but not enjoying the thought of their impending problem.

"It's lose-lose."

"Not for Charlie, it's not," Ed said, finally understanding why Olivia was so upset. For Charlie to not end up hurt, they were going to have to figure out how Lisa would be a part of their lives.

"Exactly."

Lisa was leaning against a brick wall, across from Central Park, puffing on a Marlboro Light while chatting with her boyfriend back in Florida.

"I know," she said into the phone, blowing out a cloud of smoke. "I'll be back soon. I just gotta take care of this first."

Taking one more puff, she threw the cigarette onto the ground and put it out with the toe of her boot.

"Listen. That little shit has money. I know she does. Her fuck boy was loaded before he got offed, and we both know that settlement was off the charts. She owes me. And I'm not leaving here until I get it."

"Lizzie, you gonna say hi to Auntie Tessa?" Charlie cooed at her daughter as they sat on the couch and chatted with Tessa via the iPad.

"Lizzie-Bug!" Tessa said, blowing kisses through the screen and causing the baby to giggle. "That's my girl! I miss you so much, bug-a-boo."

"Oh, Tessa," Charlie said as Lizzie shoved her fist into her mouth and drooled everywhere. "I wish you were closer."

"Me too. I miss you, Charlie."

"God, you have no idea…"

"What's going on, girl?" Tessa asked, her head cocked to the side in concern. Charlie just shook her head.

"Oh, nothing new," Charlie lied and gave her friend a smile. "Life just won't let up, ya know?"

"I know…" Tessa said, her eyes shooting down for a bit as Charlie moved quickly to wipe a tear.

"I miss him, Tessa. So much."

"I know you do. I do too. Everyday."

They both hung out, digitally, in silence for a bit before Charlie shifted and changed the subject.

"I was thinking maybe Lizzie and I could take a trip out to you…"

Tessa's face lit up in a way Charlie hadn't seen in a long time.

"Really? Oh my gosh I would LOVE that!"

"Yeah?"

"Absolutely! Come for a week in the fall."

"Okay…let's plan…"

Just then, the buzzer went off in Charlie's apartment, startling her a bit.

"I gotta run," she said. "Let's talk this weekend. Love you!"

"Love ya both!"

Charlie quickly put away the iPad and stood up, checking her and Lizzie over before going and hitting the buzzer to allow the visitor in.

"Okay, Lizzie-Bug," she said, giving them both a pep talk. "Let's just hear her out okay?"

"Grrglrrrrgrrrrl," Lizzie responded, drool going everywhere, as Charlie just laughed at her daughter and smothered her cheek with kisses.

"I love you, baby girl. We can do this together, okay? And then," Charlie said, blowing raspberries into the little girl's belly and causing even more giggles, "you get to go have a sleepover with Uncle Noah!"

"Sorry!" Noah yelled out as he moved his little red pawn to knock Ed's blue one off the board, and take its place. Ed faked being upset and reluctantly moved his little pawn back to home base and sulked for a bit.

"Noah, you are winning!" Olivia said, encouraging the little boy in his antics against his father. Ed just elbowed her. "What?" She asked, an innocent gleam in her eye and Ed could do nothing but lean over and kiss her lightly.

"Ew!" Noah exclaimed with a smile. "No kissing during game night! It da rule."

"Oh it is, is it?" Olivia asked before leaning over and tickling her son. "What about tickling?"

"Mommy!" Noah squealed as he giggled and squirmed. "No…tickling! It another rule!"

"I didn't hear that rule," Olivia said, pausing a bit for Noah to catch his breath and she looked at Ed. "Did you?"

"No," he said, a side smirk appearing. "I did not."

"It a RULE!" Noah said loudly, still laughing a bit as he calmed down.

"Well," Ed said. "I didn't hear it. But I also didn't hear a rule say we couldn't tickle Mommy!"

Just then, he pounced onto Olivia and began to tickle her, Noah joining in the family wrestle match in their living room. Laughter filled the room as the trio rolled around, taking turns tickling each other, until they all collapsed in an exhausted heap. Noah was sprawled on Ed's back, running his little hand over his dad's head. Ed laid on his stomach, with his head on the thigh of his wife, who was leaning against the couch.

"We build fort tonight?" Noah asked softly, his energy waining. Olivia let out a chuckle as she gazed lovingly at her boys.

"Sure, sweet Noah," she said. "You want it in your room so you and Lizzie can sleep under it?"

Noah sat up, straddling Ed's upper back, and puckered his face up as he pondered the question.

"Well," he said, his hands flying around as he explained what he was thinking, causing Olivia to stifle a few giggles. Ed, still face down on her thigh, would wince each time his little hand whopped him on the back of the head by accident. "I think we do it in here tonight. Cuz we gotta watch Pan too, Mommy."

"Oh, of course," she said. "Why don't you hop off of Daddy, so we can clean up the game and get ready okay?"

"Tar-lie spendin' the night too?"

"Maybe," Ed said, as he slowly got off the floor and let out a little groan as his back popped. "Depends on how her meeting goes tonight."

"Oh," Noah said with a hint of disappointment. "Meetings bad."

"I agree," Ed replied.

Lisa walked around the living room at Charlie's apartment, as the younger woman sat on the couch with Lizzie snuggly in her arms, eyeing her.

"Lots of pictures," she murmured, her index finger running over a 5x7 frame displaying a beaming Olivia and Lizzie blowing bubbles at Riverside Park. "Elizabeth looks happy."

"She is," Charlie said shortly, her grip getting tighter on her daughter and her eyes rolling at the fact Lisa refused to say Lizzie. She had been there about half an hour now, and really only spent about a minute paying any attention to the baby.

"That's nice," she said.

"Okay," Charlie said, fed up with the game Lisa seemed to be playing. "You came here to get to know your granddaughter, and you won't even look at her. So. Get to the point. Why. Are. You. Here."

Lisa turned around and narrowed her eyes a bit. The woman had almost turquoise colored eyes. Still blue, but a very different shade than that of Ed and Charlie. As Charlie looked at the near sinister slant to them, she became grateful she didn't inherit really any quality from her so-called mother.

Shifting to where Lizzie's head was nestled in her shoulder, Charlie took a deep breath. She did not like the look she was getting at that moment.

"You've got money," she said, a sly grin appearing on her face as she walked over towards her bag. "You have money. And I want it."

"Are you out of your mind?" Charlie nearly yelled, startling the baby to the point she started to cry.

"Get her to shut up, Charlotte," Lisa said, spinning around. Charlie tensed up, suddenly very nervous.

"Okay," she gulped, feeling the situation begin to spiral out of control. She needed to get her daughter out of there and fast. "Okay, let me just text Liv to come pick her up, okay?"

"Olivia…" Lisa said with an eye roll. "The fucking saint."

Charlie texted quickly, wanting to get Lizzie as far away from this escalating scene as she could, but she also didn't want to alarm her parents. They had too much going on and didn't need to be bothered with this new situation. Charlie could handle it herself, once her daughter was safely upstairs.

"Okay," she said calmly. "She'll be here soon. Then we can talk about what you want."

They waited in a tense silence, not sure what to say at that point, until they heard a key turn in the lock about five minutes later.

"There's my sweet Lizzie-bug," Olivia gushed as she came into the apartment and scooped up her granddaughter. Lizzie just let out a squeal of delight as she was cuddled by her Ollie. Charlie looked on with a small smile, still unnerved about the situation, but she so loved watching those two together.

"Thanks for doing this, Mom," she said, out of habit, before she could stop herself.

"Mom?" Lisa said from where she was leaning against the wall, watching the scene with a jealous glare.

Olivia just smothered Lizzie with more kisses than she normally would, almost as if to drive the point home, before speaking.

"Yes, Mom," she said. "Charlie's MY daughter now. So I want you to enjoy this little evening with her, because it is all you are gonna get…"

Olivia's eyes narrowed into dark slits as she stared Lisa down, well aware that she had an ulterior motive to her visit at this point.

"Momma, we are fine," Charlie said, wanting to diffuse the situation and get Olivia and Lizzie out of the way, as she could see the steam beginning to fly from the other woman in the room. "I'll text you when we finish our visit, and maybe I'll pop up for a nightcap. Okay?"

Olivia looked at her daughter with concern, shaking her head slightly and whispering her name. She did not like leaving her one bit, even though her primary focus at this point was Lizzie. Taking one last look at Lisa, she ultimately decided she didn't appear to be an immediate threat. Doing a quick calculation, Olivia figured she could get Lizzie settled upstairs with Ed and Noah, then come back down and get rid of Lisa once and for all, staking her final claim on her family.

Charlie saw the wheels turning in her mother's mind and, almost as if they shared a brain, could tell her plan. Relieved that Olivia was going to come back down, she ushered them out of the door, kissing Lizzie and hugging her mom once more. Olivia kissed her head and whispered a quick "I love you", before disappearing down the hall.

Taking a deep breath, Charlie waited a moment before turning back around to face a very angry Lisa, and gasped at what she saw.

"Momma?" Lisa hissed, her voice low and full of contempt, as she pointed the barrel of a hand gun directly at Charlie. "I don't think so."

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