Title: Snapshots: Anthology of a Life Well Lived
Author: Kimberly21570
Fandoms: Guiding Light / All My Children
Pairings: Olivia and Natalia / Lena and Bianca
Disclaimer: The characters of Olivia and Emma Spencer, and Natalia Rivera are owned by CBS/TeleNext and Proctor & Gamble. Bianca Montgomery, Lena Kundera, AJ Chandler, and Bianca's former girlfriend, Sarah, are the property of AMC, ABC/Disney, The original characters of Sutton Keller, and Isabella Mia (Bella), Marissa, and Ariana Spencer-Rivera are the property of this author, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This chapter's title comes from Shakespeare's The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1.
No copyright infringement intended with regard to Guiding Light, CBS/TeleNext, Proctor & Gamble, AMC, ABC/Disney, or any other entity. The dialogue and story content in these scenes are original. Written for fun, not profit. All other standard disclaimers apply.
Much thanks to my friend WickedWanda926 for the read-through when this update was first completed. I've made a few changes since then, so any mistakes are solely my responsibility.
Rating: Chapter 7 is rated PG-13, though this story will eventually reach NC-17.
Synopsis: It's a stroll down memory lane for Olivia and Natalia, Lena and Bianca, and their friends and family, as two of our favorite couples' daughters prepare to enter into wedded bliss, in a double wedding… of sorts…
Author's Note: Pay particular attention to the transitions in time, as this chapter contains flashbacks.
Snapshots: Anthology of a Life Well Lived
Copyright September 2012
"What's past is prologue, and the world awaits."
— Lisa Mantchev, Eyes Like Stars
Chapter 7.3—What's Past is Prologue:
The Pied Piper, Provincetown, Massachusetts—Saturday, July 24, 2021, 10:45 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time
A late evening outing at The Pied Piper—a popular high-energy gay and lesbian club in Provincetown—had been an impromptu decision. After a full day of exploring the area, the girls weren't the least bit tired, and though their mothers were, Bianca heard they were having a rare 80's night for lesbians, and she simply couldn't resist. And so everyone agreed to come along—some of them more enthusiastically than others.
"Bianca, this music is ridiculous," Lena complained for the umpteenth time as she sipped her second glass of her favorite red. She had never been a fan of her wife's obsession with 80s music, and that hadn't changed over the years.
"Oh, it's not that bad," Bianca said dismissively. She gestured toward the dance floor where Olivia and Natalia, and Emma and Jordan were dancing. "Look, the girls are having a great time."
"I'm not sure whether you're referring more to our daughters… or our friends." Lena sounded mildly amused.
Bianca laughed. "I can't believe Emma hasn't banished them to the table yet."
Olivia and Natalia had been dancing like teenagers for the better part of two hours, making their way through such classic 80's hits as Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Irene Cara's Flashdance, Kim Wilde's Kids in America, and Kim Carnes Betty Davis Eyes. And finally, when Whitney Houston came on with I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Jordan had held out a hand to Emma, dragging her reluctant partner onto the dance floor where she held her all the way through The Jets' Crush on You, Animotion's Obsession, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam's Head to Toe, The Go-Go's Head Over Heels, andThe Pretenders' Don't Get Me Wrong. Bianca and Lena finally joined them all for the Conga, and even though Lena protested throughout about how ridiculous they all looked, she was laughing heartily when she and Bianca returned to the table several minutes later.
"I think she's too busy trying not to notice Jordan," Lena commented.
"Our daughter certainly isn't making it easy on her," Bianca noted.
"You noticed that too, huh?"
"Yeah…" Bianca sighed.
"What are we gonna do?" Lena queried.
"Absolutely nothing," Bianca answered in a tone that brooked no dispute.
Surprised, Lena glanced at her wife. "Nothing," she repeated. It was more of a stunned utterance than a question. "Bianca, she's…"
Reaching across the corner of the table, Bianca grasped Lena's hand in her own. "Seventeen," she finished for her. "I know. And Emma is a twenty year-old college student."
Lena shrugged as if to acknowledge that Bianca was making her point for her.
"Our daughter will be eighteen before we know it," Bianca pointed out.
"In nine months," Lena argued, emphasizing the extended period of time.
"Yeah, and if we try to interfere with what we all know is going on there, we could spend a very uncomfortable nine months with our eldest child," Bianca warned. "Those months that I was with Sarah, it was hell at home with my mom. I don't want Jordan to go through that," she reasoned.
Nodding, Lena sighed. "I understand your point," she relented. "I'm just concerned, that's all."
Bianca smiled, and squeezed Lena's hand. "We've known Emma almost her whole life," Bianca said. "And I know that we can trust her."
It was Lena's turn to smile. "You're right, of course," she granted. Lifting her glass of wine from the table, she took a sip. "Sometimes I just get a little overprotective where Jordan is concerned."
Feigning shock, Bianca's jaw dropped as dark eyes widened. "You don't say," she mocked, drawing a laugh from her wife.
"Okay, okay, I guess I deserved that," Lena chuckled. "I know I should be far more concerned about AJ's intentions, than Emma's."
"Whatever it is you think you deserve, I agree," Olivia commented teasingly, as she and Natalia returned to the table.
"Oh, you stop," Natalia admonished with a light chuckle, as Olivia pulled her chair out from the table for her. "And thank you," she added, glancing up at her wife as she took a seat.
"So what's the topic of conversation?" Olivia asked, taking a few long swallows of her beer, much to Natalia's chagrin.
Glancing toward the dance floor, Lena gave a single nod of her head toward their daughters in response. She needed say no more.
"Oh," Olivia grunted. And then she smiled. "They're a bit obvious, aren't they?"
"A bit. Yes," Lena said understatedly.
Olivia's expression turned serious then. "Do I need to have a talk with Em?"
"Em?" Bianca laughed. "No, it's Jordan we're concerned about. She seems to be the instigator."
"Instigator?" Natalia parroted.
"You should've seen the two of them when I knocked on their door yesterday afternoon," Bianca commented. "Emma's face was flushed, and Jordan looked like she'd just gotten caught with her hand in the cookie jar."
Olivia laughed at the description.
"Well, if you change your mind, just let us know," Natalia said. "We can put the brakes on this immediately."
"That won't be necessary," Lena assured.
"The more we interfere, the more appealing it becomes," Bianca added.
"That's definitely true of Em," Olivia granted, recalling past squabbles over Maury and Dylan. "Unfortunately, she takes after her mother in that regard."
"Jordan too," Bianca related with a sigh. And then she smiled. "Besides, we couldn't ask for a better partner for her," she complimented.
Olivia glanced at Natalia, both of them smiling. "We couldn't agree more."
When the music slowed, Emma instinctively turned away, attempting to escape the dance floor—and Jordan. Those moments of closeness in their shared bedroom back at the cottage the afternoon prior had nearly been her undoing, and she couldn't imagine holding Jordan so close against her own body on purpose, and for an extended period of time. Not with this REO Speedwagon crooning about two people whose worlds were intimately entwined, and feelings that were no longer possible to fight.
But Jordan's hand caught her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. Her breath caught, and her heart shuddered in her chest. And then bold fingertips slid down Emma's arm until they brushed her palm, intertwining with Emma's. Jordan tugged then, and Emma turned her neck, their gazes locking, lush earth on stormy skies.
"Don't go," Jordan softly implored.
A soft gasp fell from Emma's lips but she didn't resist. Jordan tugged again, pulling Emma toward her. And once Emma was in front of her, Jordan's left arm slid instinctively around Emma's neck, the right, around her waist, pulling her impossibly closer.
Their gazes never faltering, Emma drew in her lower lip, releasing it slowly as she struggled for breath. And then Jordan's fingertips whispered against Emma's lips. "Just… use this for what it is, okay? An excuse for us to be close for a little while… I know you want that too, so it can't hurt anything."
Oh, but Jordan was so very wrong, Emma thought. She had no idea how much it could hurt. Still, she lacked the power to deny this woman even the most painful of requests. And in that moment of weakness, she sank fully into the warmth of Jordan's embrace, allowing her to take control as she lost herself in the music and its meaning in this moment in their lives.
The Prism, a BGRC Property in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Sunday, July 25, 2021, 2:15 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time
"You've certainly been full of questions this visit," Emma pointed out a bit nervously. After their evening at The Pied Piper, their mothers went to bed, leaving Emma and Jordan to their own devices. Instinctively, they made their way out onto the hotel's private beach where Jordan built a fire in one of the pits. And there they sat, side-by-side once again, talking late into the night.
Glancing at Emma, Jordan met her gaze in the firelight. "Perhaps I'm intrigued," she said suggestively.
Instantly, Emma's heart began to race, and a nervous laugh slipped through her lips. "By what?" She tried to sound amused.
"By you," Jordan answered forthrightly. "You're quite an enigma, Emma Spencer."
Lowering her gaze, Emma focused on the sand, the way the grains glistened in the dancing light of the flames. "What makes you say that?"
"For all we've shared over the years, you've always been a mystery to me," Jordan said in a quiet, serious tone. "Even when you shared things with me, there were always parts that you kept to yourself. And you're a master at avoidance when the question doesn't suit you," she pointed out. And then she grinned. "But you're not getting away with it this time. So spill."
"Shit," Emma muttered. She knew it was true. Jordan shared so much of herself, but as they grew older, Emma seemed to hold more and more back. Some, because she thought the information was inappropriate for Jordan's age at the time; and some, because she really didn't know how Jordan would react—and that mattered to her more than she realized. Another thing she hadn't realized was that Jordan would be so attuned to the changes in her. "Sometimes I forget your mother's a fucking shrink."
Typical Emma-speak for avoidance, Jordan thought. "Nice try," she challenged. "Spill. Why are you so afraid of this thing between us?"
"There's nothing to be afraid of," Emma said.
"Exactly my point," Jordan declared.
"No, I mean I'm not afraid, because there's nothing between us," Emma insisted.
In its immediate wake, Emma's denial was a crushing blow to Jordan's heart. But she knew it wasn't true. And she wasn't about to allow Emma to derail her. Not this time.
She grabbed her phone and unlocked it, then hit her music app, and began searching. A moment later, the familiar opening guitar riff of Orleans' Dance with Me began to play, and not for the first time in the presence of this girl, Emma's heart shuddered in her chest.
Pressing her palms into the sand, Jordan rose to her feet effortlessly. She cocked her head to the side, in that adorable way she always did, as she extended a hand toward Emma. "Dance with me, Emma," she said. It wasn't a question. "And then tell me there's nothing. I dare you."
This was a bad idea, if ever one existed. Emma's heart pounded so intensely in her chest that she was certain Jordan could hear it. It had been hard enough keeping her wits about her at The Pied Piper earlier that evening. At least she'd had their mothers there as a deterrent. But here, by the ocean, with no one else around, she wasn't so certain her willpower could be sustained. If she touched her again, she would kiss her. And if she kissed her, it wouldn't be enough. It would never be enough. Not for the rest of her life. "I can't, Jordan," she finally declined, her voice a soft whisper against the crashing waves.
"Is it AJ?" Jordan asked.
Crouching down beside Emma, she feathered her fingertips through soft chestnut locks, causing Emma's breath to catch in her chest. "Because if that's all it is, I'll call him right now, Em. I'll break it off with him right…"
"Do you hear yourself, Jordan?" Emma asked quietly. "Two weeks ago you were ready to have sex with him. Ready enough that you went to your mother. And now you're acting as if you could just walk away and never look back. How am I supposed to react to that?" she demanded, her tone now filled with anger.
Emma didn't wait for an answer. She was on her feet the moment she uttered the question, walking back toward the hotel a split-second later.
Jordan shook her head. "Getting angry with me isn't going to change what you feel, Emma Spencer," she called out after her, as she watched her walk away. Damn, that girl was a stubborn ass sometimes! But what Emma didn't yet understand was that what she gave out in obstinacy, Jordan returned with raw determination.
Challenge accepted.
TBC in Chapter 7.4…
