Title: Risen From The Ashes

Pairing: Olivia/Natalia Doris/Blake ?/?

Rating: MA for strong language, adult situations, violence, blood, drug use.

Slightly AU most invents remain the same with a few concentrated changes to the Otalia storyline.

Summary: A mysterious stranger comes to town and changes the lives of Olivia and Natalia forever.

Moments like this were exactly why people said "sleep on it."

Olivia and Natalia lay in their bed cuddled up in each other's warmth wide-eyed and minds completely blown. Last night had been a kind of whirlwind of activity for them. Towers, Natalia's freaking out, Olivia's heart failure, Natalia's trip to the emergency room, the family's trip to the park, coming home and explaining things to a suspicious Emma.

Whew!

Olivia felt herself getting a head rush thinking about it all.

"We need to talk to Phillip and Beth," Natalia finally murmured. She decided it was a good idea to take one step at a time so they wouldn't be overwhelmed by the flow of emotions that could easily drag them under.

"I know. Part of me wants to be able to be angry with Chessie and another part is glad that she had the frame of mind to warn him to move and take her anger out on an inanimate object instead. Granted that object was one of my trees, but she's come a long way."

Natalia nodded as Olivia rubbed small concentrated circles on her back. "She wouldn't have been in a good enough place to do that even just a month ago," she conceded.

"Still James is beginning to show his Spaulding colors. It's one thing to constantly piss her off, but to do it by manhandling a woman in front of her especially Daisy…it would really screw with our families getting along if one of our kids killed the other."

Natalia groaned and buried her head in Olivia's chest. She felt tears prick her eyes as the sound of her heart – healthy and strong beat steadily under her ear. She reached her hand up and began to stroke the area of Olivia's slightly puckered surgical scar with the pads of her fingers.

"We almost lost you."

Olivia took in a steadying breath as the quiver in Natalia's softly spoken statement worked its way down her spine and settled dreadfully like a lead weight in the pit of her stomach. She hugged Natalia closer to herself. Natalia squeezed back.

There would be a time when they would have a more in depth conversation about what almost happened – a time when they could look back on it as a distant memory and not as the wound still fresh and frayed as it was in their minds. Twice now Olivia had almost died on Natalia as she begged her to stay with them…they needed to wrap their heads around it first. So for now those four words and the simple subsequent actions to comfort one another would do.

Olivia being Olivia decided to go with a bit of levity to take the sting out of the moment. "Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it seems you haven't quite gotten rid of me yet. Those jogging suits are looking pretty inevitable right about now."

Natalia shook her head and smiled.

"Gus is really gone now," Olivia breathed out as she turned her head sideways to look towards the bathroom door. She didn't know how she felt about that, but she wanted to know how Natalia did.

Natalia's head rose from her comfortable position to peer down at an unsure Olivia. There was still some part of her that believed that Natalia only put up with her because she was the incubator for the last leaving piece of him. Now no longer the vessel for the heart Natalia had pinned away for almost all of her life where did that leave her?

Natalia cupped her cheeks and placed a single, soft, but equally as reverent kiss on pursed lips. "This heart," Natalia tapped on Olivia's chest then gathered her hand in her own "and this heart," she tapped her own chest with their joined hands "have belonged to you for a long time Princess. Never doubt that." She smoothed Olivia's hair out of her face as her lover looked at her with those deeply penetrating eyes and smiled. "Gus has been gone from our lives for some time, and I've reconciled the fact that he was one of those seasonal things in God's plan. He's still with us in a lot of ways though; we have Rafe for instance."

The "we" part of that statement wasn't lost on Olivia.

"But you baby – you were meant to be here with me for a lifetime. Reality is just now catching up to the plan that's all."

Olivia smiled at Natalia. It said, "Thank you. I love you. Forgive me. Keep me... forever."

"All part of the plan," Natalia grinned and kissed her lover again.

After a time Olivia pulled back and rolled them over so that Natalia was on her back and just looked down at her. After walking on pins and needles cringing at the thought of Olivia's impending demise there was now honest to God time stretched out in front of them as far as the eyes could see. Olivia had felt like an empty jar that some moron had decided to poor all of Gus' pennies in after she'd spent her own. Now though life was hers to live, cherish, and finally get right. They both felt gratitude settle over them like a warm blanket.

Natalia grinned impishly up at Olivia knowing that if ever she could get Olivia to agree to a particular thing now was it. "So I was thinking about taking the kids to church today. Of course I have to talk to Francesca about going, but…will you go too? I want us all to thank God for his blessings over this family."

Natalia pursed her lips slightly as she gave Olivia a small smile hitting her with the one two punch of the dimply-pout. Olivia shook her head as she grinned and tugged at Natalia's lower lip with her thumb and forefinger.

"So unfair."

"Is that a yes?"

Olivia flopped down away from Natalia and on to her back, and threw her arm over her eyes. Natalia quickly righted herself on the bed and began to bounce up and down. She watched eagerly as her grumpy counterpart forced out a puff of air and slightly raised her arm away to peek out at her.

"Fine, but I'm not talking to Ray."

Natalia squealed and all but dove on Olivia peppering her face with kisses. "Thank you," she laughed as Olivia playfully swatted her away. "Afterwards we could get something to eat and then go to Doris' press conference."

"Ah shit! That's today?"

Natalia frowned at her. "Swear Jar Liv. And yes it's today so get up lazy bones so we can get ready." Natalia made a move to get off of the bed.

Olivia grabbed her and pulled her back as Natalia giggled.

"Princess come on…"

"No. You're supposed to be relaxing. After all of the stress I put you through…"

"Wait a second," Natalia put up her hand and gave Olivia a patient look. "You do not stress me out, our family does not stress me out. What does though is the thought of losing you, and this," she swept her hand out referring to their home and everyone in it. "Working constantly, worrying about first a sick Rafe, then you sick, Rafe in jail, Emma's safety, Francesca's well being, basically all the wrong things in our lives stress me out. I worry about all of you so much and I do realize that there are things beyond my control. I just need to let loose the reigns a little bit."

"And rest," Olivia added.

Natalia smiled. "And rest."

Olivia huffed as she sat up and released Natalia. "Fine, but we have to take your prescription in."

"Okay, we can do that before church and pick it up af…"

Thwack!

Both women looked around.

"What…"

Thwack!

Thwack!

Olivia and Natalia looked towards the window and back at each other.

"Chessie," they said in unison.

They got out of bed and went to the window where they could clearly see in the bright morning sun their daughter standing out in the field knocking an arrow against her bow; readying it for release.

"Please tell me she's not shooting the ducks," Olivia grumbled as Natalia laughed and threw on her robe to go investigate.

"I'll go check on her. You shower."

"Hey Ma," Francesca greeted a little testily as she lowered her bow. Natalia smiled from behind her. There was something about knowing that her presence was so cherished by the girl that she could smell her coming. Knowing your child needed you and having that validated by said child did wonders for a parent's ego.

"Good morning Chess." Natalia looked around for the bodies of any unlucky birds. The giant black bow her daughter was wielding looked a little intimidating. It was a compound bow with all the bells and whistles in which Natalia couldn't even begin to name. She looked around wondering where the arrows waiting to be used were.

Francesca grinned."I'm not really trying to incur the wrath of Jellybean. I'm shooting at the target."

Natalia sighed in relief and looked around quizzically. "What target?"

"That one," Francesca gestured with her bow towards the end of the field close to where property met gate.

Natalia could barely make it out in the distance.

Francesca pressed a button on her bow that dropped an arrow head out of a mechanized chamber from the top of the string groove. The shaft engaged outward expanding into a full arrow that she quickly knocked and sent flying across the field with a satisfied growl. The bow was whisper quiet so it was easy to tell that the sound they had heard upstairs was that of the arrow making impact with the target. Francesca was using a lot of strength to send those tiny death missiles flying…she was still angry.

"Letting lose some steam?"

The girl looked over at her mother and sighed. "Darts weren't big enough," she mumbled.

Natalia furrowed her brow as they began to walk towards the target.

"So we're all going to church today…" Natalia felt her daughter shut down at her side as she began to walk with her eyes firmly planted on the ground. They talked often about their faith with one another. It was part of their quiet time where they bounced ideas off of one another in search for all those answers that eluded them in their darkest moments. Francesca though had been adamant about not going to church. She was convinced that she'd spontaneously combust upon entry.

"I'm not Catholic Ma," Francesca's feeble argument didn't even sound convincing enough to herself.

"I know that but, it's a start right?" Natalia nudged Francesca playfully as the girl collapsed her bow while they walked.

Francesca bit her lip and looked at Natalia in shame. "The last time I came across a Catholic Priest didn't end well…for him."

Natalia tried to hide the wince she could feel trying to take control of the muscles in her face and rubbed her forehead. "Francesca…"

What the hell was she supposed to say to that?

She thought of something her mother had said all the time when she was younger. "We must be vigilant in our faith Angelica; demons are everywhere." She hated when her mother called her by her middle name. But she had been right of course. Natalia looked at Francesca mournfully.

Yes indeed they were.

It was true that Priests as a whole had an unfair social stigma, but a nice chunk of them had earned it. She couldn't remember a single perish function that she had allowed Rafe to attend alone when he was a child. She shook her head and sighed wondering why she stayed so loyal to the Catholic Church when more and more everyday she was realizing how that loyalty wasn't returned. There were times when its policies were reminiscent of the old boys club where they protected their own. Instead of the men that did those terrible things being excommunicated they were simply relocated.

That wasn't right at all.

The same men who should rot for forcing themselves on young boys were the ones who were very vocal on their opinion of two consenting adults that just so happened to be the same sex. That opinion wasn't in the least bit flattering.

"Ruminating again?" Francesca grinned at her Ma as Natalia snapped out of her reverie and realized they had reached the target the girl had been shooting at.

Natalia took one look at it and turned beet red. "Francesca!" she admonished as she swatted the girl on the arm with the back of her hand.

Her daughter offered no apology as she began to pull the arrows from the target. Each one had been deeply imbedded into the enlarged image of James Spaulding's forehead affixed to a circular wooden board.

"I would have preferred the darts to this," Natalia continued to chide her child.

"I would apologize for it, but seeing as I'm not sorry it would be a little hollow."

Natalia shook her head as she watched the girl disengage each arrow and drop the heads back into the chamber of her bow then dropped it in the sheath on her back.

"We're going to drop off my prescription," Natalia waved the paper in Francesca's direction, "and then we're going to church as a family."

"Wait… Mom's going?" Francesca asked incredulously as she took the paper from Natalia's hand and crumbled it.

"Yes your mother is going and what are you doing with my prescription?"

"It's not necessary," the girl told her as she began to walk back towards the house grumbling about how some conspiracy was at work. Olivia never went to church – it was the only thing that allowed her to get away with doing the same. They would spend that time together while Natalia took the other two kids and get into mischief. The gate incident being example number one.

Natalia caught up to the girl giving her a pointed look.

"This drug like most have side-effects that are worse than what it's supposed to be treating. I have a more mild form of my smokes made up for you. They'll mellow you out and are a lot healthier."

"I don't smoke."

Francesca grinned. "Neither do I."

The two walked in the house both thinking along the same lines.

Please don't let Father Ray be a pedophile.