"No!" The vision shattered into Olivia's face. Stunning and terrified in the same moment of stillness.
Gregory crashed to the floor, falling to his knees as the needle tumbled from his fingers. She threw herself against his chest, sobbing as she stared at the small dark spot of blood marring his skin.
"No- no-" She ran her hands over his face, remembering every line with her finger tips as he stared at her.
Gregory felt her fingers like tiny cold butterflies, nearly insubstantial against his skin. He watched the pain run rampant over her face, erasing the smile from his dream.
Olivia slammed her hand over the blood, as if that would stop the poison in his veins. "No darling, no. Not now. Not like this. Not like this."
Gregory's chest shook as she pressed her hands against it. The shaking got to his throat and turned into laughter. Desperate, hysterical laughter that echoed through the stone. He wrapped his arms around her and clung to her, tighter and tighter until she gasped in pain.
It didn't matter.
"I love you." Olivia whispered as her breath returned. "I love you and you can't leave me like this. You can't."
He released her enough to kiss her cheek before crushing her to his chest again. "They said you were gone."
"No- No I wasn't." Olivia sobbed into the bare skin of his shoulder. "I'm here. I'm always going to be here. With you. You can't leave me. You can't-" Her chin quivered as she pulled away. Her eyes darkened and her hand cracked across his face.
"How could you do this!" She hit the needle to the farthest corner of the floor and raised her hand to hit him again. "Damn you. Damn-"
Covering her mouth with his fingers, Gregory was still chuckling in that infuriating way. "Olivia-"
"You can't leave me." Shuddering as she pulled away from him, Olivia wrapped her hands around her stomach and felt the world explode inside of her. "You can't. Not now, not like this. How could you! How could you?" Her trembling hands grabbed his face and shook him. "Gregory-"
Kissing her quieted her mania. In the pause of parted lips, he whispered, "I missed."
"What?" Olivia couldn't look away from his eyes. The perfection of his eyes.
"I missed." He took her hand and ran it over the hard line of his rib. "I missed. I saw you and I couldn't think. You've always distracted me Olivia."
Shaking her head in stunned disbelief, the swimming feeling in her head sank to envelop all of her body. "Gregory-" She tumbled into his arms, her strength finally giving out when she didn't need it anymore.
Gregory let her fall into his chest, guiding them both to the floor. The crunch beneath his back was cool and wet, somehow one of the planters had gotten knocked over.
Olivia was warm and heavy on his chest. Her hair tickled as she moved her head to watch him. He couldn't keep his eyes from him either. Olivia, alive and in his arms again was proof of heaven. Heaven existed in that moment. In the beat of her heart against his chest.
"Are you all right?" It was the most useless question to be asking her, but she seemed to enjoy the simplicity of it.
"No, of course not." Olivia kissed the bare skin of his chest and looked up at him reproachfully. "How could you?"
He ran his fingers through her hair meditatively and traced his thumb across her forehead. "Have you tried living without you?"
"But the children- Caitlin, Sean and-" Olivia caught herself short and the pain flooded back into her eyes. She dropped her head out of sight, too tired to keep it up anymore.
"And Trey." Gregory finished. His hand reached down until he found hers to squeeze in comfort. "You were asleep for awhile Liv. Things happened-"
"What things?" The spot of blood on his chest congealed before her eyes. Drying to a dark brown and starting to heal. Could they do the same?
"Dr. Robinson figured it out." Grudging admiration softened his tone. "Well, part of it at least. Trey and I have the same blood type. Cole couldn't be his father. Caitlin kept up her lie and the only conclusion the good doctor could come to was that I was his father and Cate was his mother."
Olivia gasped in shock and disgust settled over her. Gregory's hand on her back helped. So did the deep, musky smell that was unmistakably him.
"So Torres had me arrested." In hindsight, it was funny. Gregory smiled up at the ceiling of the mausoleum. In hindsight, all of it was hilarious. The mess of his life, his daughter stealing his baby son away. "Cate ran. She's still in Europe somewhere, but I think Sean will find her."
"All of our children are running around the continent somewhere-" Olivia sat up quickly, her concern adding new fuel to the fire. "And you don't care?"
"Cole's with them." Gregory added as an afterthought. "AJ sent Sean through his mother, something about a house in-" He shrugged off the name. "Wasn't paying attention when Bette told me."
"Cole's with them." Olivia repeated as if he had just announced his lifelong desire to become a trapeze artist. "And that makes it all okay. They're running around Europe with a "slightly-retired, fully-incompetent jewel thief," He recognized himself in her mocking tone, but still, all he could do was smile up at the sneer on her perfect lips.
"And you're smiling." She finished softly.
Gregory sat up, cradling her back into his arms as his free hand searched for one of the broken flowers on the floor. "You're alive." He snapped off the rest of the stem and tucked the white lily into her hair. "Smiling doesn't even begin to cover it. Running around and praising everything and everyone would be more appropriate, but smiling is a little easier to do with someone lying on my chest."
"I just had major surgery." Olivia pointed out with brutal honesty. "You're much more comfortable then the floor."
"I think you're the only one who's ever found me comfortable." He kissed his fingers before placing them on her forehead. "But I love that about you."
"I need you." Olivia whispered to his fingers as she pulled them down and held them tightly. "You saved me. You carried me all that way from AJ's car. You talked to me when I couldn't stay awake anymore."
"Can I tell you a secret?" He asked as he ran his free hand down her arm. The suit she was wearing was just a little too big. The sleeve was longer than hers would have been. It was rather endearing.
"Oh darling always," Olivia wondered if he had damaged the bone of his rib. The bloody spot in his chest could be the start of a nasty bruise. "Always."
"I don't think I did it for you." Her lips were warm as she kissed his fingers but she waited for him to finish. "Don't misunderstand me Liv- I'd walk through fire for you, it's just-" He shook his head and searched for the words he wanted in the darkness of the mausoleum's ceiling. "I couldn't lose you. I couldn't watch you die. I-"
The lily tumbled out of her hair as she crept up to his face. "It's all right to need someone. In fact-" Brushing his hair out off his face, Olivia felt the tear escape from her eye. "In fact, it's rather sweet."
"Oh is it?" He met her lips and tasted the sweetness of the past. "I'm glad you think so."
"I love that you need me. I love that you're always trying to protect me." She toyed with the fullness of his lower lip and smiled softly. "There are plenty of things about you that I have a hard time dealing with. But, I love you. God-" She trailed down his chin and sighed heavily. "I don't think that 'I love you' is even good enough anymore. I just don't know what else to say."
"Then don't." Pulling her head down to kiss her again was the most natural thing in the world. Olivia was alive and he loved her. What else was there?
Her eyes had opened during the kiss and he got to watch them drink him in. Her ice blue irises were so thin in the darkness. Her pupils could swallow him whole. At some point they had. Her mouth was dry as his tongue strayed into it.
Gregory jolted back, sitting up and staring at her as his concern came rushing back. "I have to get you back to the hospital."
Olivia sighed sleepily. Sitting up was more of a chore than she had realized. "You may have a point darling."
His hands closed around her wrists and he pulled her to her feet. "I'm sorry."
She reached down to brush off her clothes out of habit, but she stopped herself with the pain of her injuries knifed back. This time, he was here to hold on to her. Gregory cleaned her clothes for her. Careful to keep her from bending her waist, his hands caught her hips.
Sighing as she leaned back against him, Olivia let her eyes close. It did hurt. When her panic faded, exhaustion and the aches that came with it returned. That dizzy feeling was back as well. How long had it been since she'd eaten anything?
"How did you get here?" Gregory asked her as he found a safe place for his hands on his shoulders. "I can't imagine the good Dr. Robinson was too keen on letting you out."
Olivia's head rolled back against his shoulder. "I snuck out. My records got mixed up with another woman who died. Her clothes were in my room and I took them. Her husband-" Her hands fluttered towards the door. "His name is David. He drove me. He thought I was her when he saw me. He'll drive us back."
"All right." He ran his hands down her arms and back up again before circling her. Gregory lifted his arms to behind his neck. "Let's get you back to the hospital."
Olivia lowered one eyebrow suspiciously. "What are you doing?"
"Oh come now Liv-" Gregory scooped her up into his arms without warning. "You remember this. Just keep your arms up and your eyes on me."
"I've never been able to keep my eyes off of you." She quipped as she gave in and rested her head against his neck. "Thank you."
"For being my usual controlling self? I don't think you should really do that. It'll go to my head." Gregory couldn't believe it was all ready dark. How much time had they spent in limbo? Time was entirely relative with Olivia in his arms. He took great care on his way down the hill, letting his eyes find the obstacles before his feet could.
A silhouette of a man jumped up from behind one of the larger headstones. David must have heard his footsteps. He waved shyly. Gregory's hands weren't available for a handshake. "Back to South Bay?" Hurrying to open the back door, he got his first look at Gregory when the interior light illuminated his face. David took in the exhausted circles beneath Gregory's eyes.
Gregory caught the tracks of tears on David's face. He kissed Olivia again as he set her gently into the car. Stroking her cheek lovingly as he spoke to the other man, Gregory couldn't believe his luck. Another turn of fate and he could have been the one who had lost everything. David shook his hand, forcing himself to be civil.
"David Parish."
"Gregory Richards." He sighed and lowered his voice so Olivia wouldn't hear his concern. "Thank you for getting her here safely."
David nodded to give himself time to find his voice. "I don't think you realize how important love is until it's-"
Gregory stared right at him and bobbed his head once curtly. "No. We don't." He looked down at Olivia's feet on the seat of the car. ""We don't have the slightest idea what we have." Silence was heavy with grief between them, making the air thick like summer humidity.
He got into the car and pulled Olivia into his arms. He cradled her like the most precious thing in the world. Gregory held her for David and every other man who wasn't as lucky as he had been. Her shoulders were heavy, and her head was the perfect weightt against his chest. The kind of weight that belonged there.