NOTE: Chapter 47 is RATED ADULT for sexual content.

(See first part for disclaimer, notes, spoilers, etc.)

Chapter 46
Del storms angrily off the elevator and across the lobby to the reception desk. He furiously bangs his hand on the counter several times to rouse the sleepy clerk.

"Wha-, uh. Sorry, sir," the young man startles. "How can I help you?"

"I need you to tell me which room Gregory Richards is stayin' in."

"Uh, sir, I'm sorry. But for the privacy of our guests, I am not authorized to give out that informa-," the clerk trails off as Del pulls out his money clip and slides a crisp one-hundred dollar bill across the surface. The clerk glances around to make sure there is no supervisor in the area. "Just a moment, sir." He dashes into the back room to get the information worth a hundred dollars.

Del impatiently taps his fingers on the counter and glances at the doors as half a dozen teenagers walk through the lobby to the lounge.

"Del?"

Del looks closer at the group and he notices Olivia's daughter. Put on your game face, Douglas, he thinks. It's nearly five a.m. and Olivia isn't back. The girl might know where she is.

"Well, hello! How are you, darlin'?" he asks as he walks closer.

"I'm fine," Caitlin responds as Sean comes to stand behind her. "What are you doing up so late...or early?"

"I actually haven't been to sleep," Del says as he adopts an air of concern. "Your mother hasn't come back. She isn't with you by chance?"

Caitlin and Sean exchange a look that doesn't go unnoticed by Del, though he can't determine its meaning.

Sean clears his throat and says, "Uh, Del...We haven't seen her since dinner."

"We went to a graduation party after dinner," Caitlin chimes in. "She was still at the table with our dad when we left."

Del reels from the news that Olivia spent the evening with Gregory. Shit! I knew this was a mistake! I knew it was a mistake to let her go to dinner with them alone just like it was a mistake to come to this graduation.

At that moment, the desk clerk returns and announces, "Sir, Mr. Richards is staying in the 'Bartlett suite'. But it's no use going there; the night maid just finished her rounds and she told me that the suite is empty."

A worried look passes between Caitlin and Sean.

"Alright," Del growls at them, "I want to know what the hell happened between your parents at dinner and what the hell they were doing when you left them."

Chapter 47
A silver mist rises off the small lake behind the cabin. The sun was slowly rising, casting a golden glow in the area around the cabin. All is quiet and still, except for the small squirrel that scurries down one of the oak trees to gather acorns.

Inside the master bedroom, Gregory and Olivia lie tangled and twisted among bed sheets and limbs. Gregory's arm is flung across Olivia's chest and it rises and falls with every breath she takes. A series of claw-like scratches trail up his arm. An angry red bite mark stands out on the side of his neck.

Olivia rolls over onto her side and buries her face in Gregory's chest. The sheet falls off with her movements and reveals purple bruising on her hips.

Gregory stirs and looks at Olivia through half opened eyes. He puts his arm around her and pulls her closer to his body. He runs his hand gently up the length of her arm and trails his fingers over a reddish-purple bruise on her collarbone that his mouth left. He reaches over and tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear. As his fingers brush over her ear, Olivia shifts and slowly opens her eyes. She arches her back and sighs contentedly. She smiles shyly at Gregory and the color rises in her face.

"Olivia Richards," Gregory says softly with a small smile on his lips, "after all these years I can still make you blush like a school girl..."

Olivia laughs softly and snuggles deeper into Gregory's warm embrace. He reaches down and pulls the covers up over them.

"I didn't think it would still be so chilly in the mornings," Gregory admits as he rubs his hands up and down Olivia's arms in an attempt to warm her. "It is almost June, after all."

"It's because the sun just came up...It'll get warmer later," Olivia assures him.

Things are so perfect at this moment, Gregory thinks to himself, and I don't want to pressure her...but I need to know where things stand.

"What happens later, Liv?"

Olivia opens her eyes again and looks up at Gregory before slipping out of his embrace and the bed. With her back to him, she bends down and wraps herself in his button down shirt.

Gregory gasps aloud at the sight of the bruises on her hips and butt cheeks. "My god Olivia! What did I do to you?"

Olivia turns around, still buttoning the shirt, and says, "Nothing worse than what I did to you." She gestures at the scratches on his arms and shoulders. She walks into the bathroom and after a moment Gregory hears the faucet running.

He swings his legs out of the bed and steps into his discarded boxers on the floor. He goes to the bathroom doorway and watches Olivia brushing her teeth. She leaves the bathroom and walks past him, kissing his cheek. She goes to the window that overlooks the lake and rolling hills behind the cabin while he brushes his teeth.

"I still can't believe you own a cabin here, of all places," Olivia says as she admires the view. "It really is beautiful here. Have you ever used the cabin before?"

Gregory comes up behind Olivia and wraps his arms around her. He rests his chin on her shoulder and answers, "No. This is the first time." She turns around to face him and he keeps his arms firmly locked around her.

"I don't know what happens later," she confesses. "I'm so confused right now...I don't know what to do."

"What's causing the confusion?"

Olivia narrows her eyes and whispers, "You." She sighs and repeats, "You...I've loved you for half my life and I don't think I'll ever be able to figure our relationship out. I'm forty-four now and the only thing that I'm remotely sure of is that when I woke up in your arms a few minutes ago, it was like I was young again." She leans in and rests her head on his shoulder and says, "It felt so right."

"I know it did. I felt it too," Gregory replies. He lets that sink in for a moment then says, "Believe me when I say this Olivia. I've had months without you to know that I need you. Your leaving was a jolt...I never realized until you left how much of you is a part of me." He looks down when he feels wetness on his shoulder. "Olivia," he sighs sadly, "please don't cry."

Olivia angrily pushes away from Gregory and shouts, "But I do! I do cry...You make me cry! When I'm with you, I become a person that I don't like. I drink myself into oblivion in order to make the pain go away! I see your looks of disgust and I drink more. I sleep with other men to erase the pain that comes with the knowledge that you've been with other women! I sleep with other men because you say that you can't bear the sight of me!" She turns away from him and raises her hands to her face.

The only noise in the room is Olivia's sobbing. Gregory reaches out and allows his hand to hover above her shoulder for a moment before he drops it without touching her. He decides that distance is the best thing right now and moves to sit on the bed.

" 'They' never meant anything," he says softly after a few minutes. He glances up at her and sees that she is wiping tears off her cheeks. He sighs deeply and asks, "What about your men?"

Olivia sniffles and says, "Nothing. After awhile, it just became one body after the other in a drunken haze."

And Del?, he wonders but decides to save that topic for later.

"Where did we go wrong, Olivia? Or were we just wrong to begin with?" he wonders aloud.

Olivia looks at Gregory with a tear-stained face and says, with a voice hoarse from crying, "I don't know." She walks over and sits next to him on the bed. "I always thought that our marriage went to hell after the miscarriage."

Gregory inhales sharply as he recalls the sound of Olivia's body thudding down the stairs...the sound of her head slamming against the tiled floor.

"I'm sorry," they say simultaneously.

"Greg-," Olivia starts to say but she is interrupted when he holds up his hand. She watches as he crosses the room and leans against the wall. It'll never change, she thinks. He'll always blame me. She stands up and walks over to him slowly, stopping about a foot away from him.

"You can't blame me anymore than I blame myself," she says quietly. "I remember waking up and the doctor apologizing, saying that they did everything they could. I remember seeing your face, how disappointed you were. You wanted a boy so m-much," Olivia sobs, "and I -."

Gregory sighs and says, "Olivia...I don't blame you. I never did."

"What!" she asks. "I don't understand..."

He closes his eyes and says softly, "I can still hear the sound of your body rolling down the stairs and the horrible smack of your body landing on the tile. You were in and out of consciousness in the ambulance but you kept murmuring 'my baby...my baby'. You were so pale...I thought I was going to lose you." He sighs and massages his temples. "In the hospital," he continues, "the doctor said that there was a chance that the fetus could be saved. I told him...I told him I didn't care about the baby. I didn't care if the baby survived, I just wanted you to."

Gregory opens his eyes and sees Olivia staring at him, her eyes filled with unshed tears. He steps closer to her and says, "I couldn't lose you. I just couldn't. When the doctors told me that you had survived the surgery, I..." He trails off as he chokes back a sob, "I didn't even ask about the baby, just asked when I could see you. They let me in as you were coming out of the anesthesia and I swear my heart nearly stopped beating when your eyes fluttered open that first time. When the doctor told us that you miscarried, I was disappointed because I knew how much it meant to you." He touches Olivia's cheek as she starts to cry again. "I saw how upset you were and I felt guilty that I wished his death in order to keep you. All that pain that you went through, I caused! But that child never meant as much to me as you did...as much as you do," he says as Olivia steps into his embrace.

"I thought...all this time, I thought," Olivia manages to say in between sobs.

"I'm sorry...Liv, I'm so sorry." He hugs her tighter and, for the first time, allows himself to cry over the child lost to them both so long ago. His legs give away and he slides down to the floor, taking Olivia with him. He buries his face in her hair and sobs, gripping her tightly like a dying man holding a life vest.

And she is there, holding him just as tightly.