It was entirely disconcerting to have everyone staring at him. He blinked up at Olivia, trying not to smile as he realized how odd that look of concern was on his face. He didn't want to make her worry, he just wanted to be alone. He needed time to think. Time he wasn't going to get at a crowded party.
How could he be pregnant? He let Olivia and Alex help him up to sit on the sofa as he tuned out the voices around him. He understood the how, he supposed with an odd smile. Why was a good question. Why now was a better one.
"I'm fine." He finally snapped at Olivia as she asked him the hundredth time if he was all right. This was all her fault. She should have been more careful, it was her responsibility after all- Gregory pushed her hand away and let Sean and Alex help him upstairs instead. "I'm fine." He snapped again, ignoring the hurt look on her face. How could she do this to them? How could she be so irresponsible?
Sean gave him a reproachful look, but he wasn't going to say anything. Sean would probably agree that it was 'Gregory's' fault. Gregory never got Sean on his side. He was still smiling at the strangeness of it when Alex asked for a moment alone.
"She'll be all right Sean." Alex touched his shoulder, smiling gently. "I promise, I care about your mother as least as much as your dad does. Okay?"
Sean looked back and forth between them strangely. He started to retreat out of the room, but stopped and knelt in front of Gregory. "I want you to know that I'll love you. no matter what."
Gregory felt his heart twist in his chest. He stared down at his son and then at Alex over Sean's shoulder. She motioned with her hands. Gregory hugged Sean, pulling him tightly in to his chest. "I-" He stopped, voice cracking slightly. He could do it. He could say it. Sean wouldn't think it was weird coming from his mother. "I love you too."
How long had it been since he said that as himself? Gregory wasn't sure he could remember. He was immediately grateful when Sean left the room. His eyes felt funny, and he had the sudden urge to keep anyone from seeing him. "Alex-"
She shook her head at him slowly. "Oh honey. It's okay." She reached out and pulled him close just as he'd clung to Sean. Gregory let his head fall to her shoulder. "Alex-"
"I'm-"
She rocked him, humming a little, like she used to when Casey was a baby. "I'll take you to a doctor tomorrow. We'll get it all sorted out."
He pulled away and dropped his head into his head. "I'm-"
"Relax sweetheart. Just relax." Alex kept humming. Gregory couldn't place the song, but she was smiling when he finally looked up. She was always smiling. "Just think. You'll be the first man who understands what his wife went through when she was pregnant. The first man to know what it's like to have a baby."
"She's all right." Bette assured her as she waited for Olivia to finish showing her guests to the door. "Olivia's all right. She's just tired, you saw her. She's been sick all day."
Olivia congratulated Vanessa again and shook Michael's hand as they left for the limo. "I should never have let 'her' talk me into having this party. I should have made her rest."
Casey paused on his way to the door. "Do you think I should wait for my mom? If I leave I'm going to take her way home."
Olivia shrugged. "Alex can drive Olivia's home, she never uses it anymore. That way you don't have to wait around for your mother to stop fussing over my wife."
"That would be your job." Bette corrected as she took Casey's arm. "Muscles here can give me a lift home instead. Wouldn't do to have you driving home all by your lonesome, handsome young man like you..." Her wink made Olivia raise an eyebrow, but Casey took it in stride.
"I'd be honored. You're sure my mom will get home all right?" Casey wondered again.
Olivia bite back her annoyance, and instead adopted the arrogant air Gregory was so good at. "I can send her home as soon as I get up to my wife."
"Give Livie my best won't you?" Bette took a firmer grip on Casey's arm, running her fingers appreciatively over his biceps. "She has to get better so we can go shopping tomorrow. Your money won't spend itself you know."
She rolled her eyes but smiled at Bette. "Goodnight Bette."
"Goodnight Gregory darling." The last was a dig at Olivia that stung exactly the way Bette wanted it too.
Olivia enjoyed shutting the door on Bette's laughter. She shut her eyes for a moment and pressed her fingers against the bridge of her nose. Gregory was sick. Did he even know how to handle being ill? It certainly never happened to him. No wonder the poor man was so confused. He'd been dealt a difficult hand. Her bouts with the flu were vicious. His body wouldn't listen to him. No matter what he said, or how he tried to protest he was all right. He was confused, exhausted, disoriented, but he was doing his best. He was trying to be her.
She headed up the stairs, passing Sean on the landing. "Goodnight d- son." She corrected herself. Darling in Gregory's vocabulary was reserved for her alone.
"Goodnight." He looked at her with the dark eyes he'd gotten from his father. The ones that looked right through her. Something was bothering him. Something was wrong in his eyes. "Hey, dad?"
"Yes Sean?" Olivia put her hands in her pockets.
He looked down before looking up to her shyly. "Is mom all right?"
"It's just the flu Sean." She reached out towards him but he pulled back. Olivia tried not to let the hurt show in her face. "She'll be fine."
"What-" He stalled, scuffing his foot against the carpet. "Do you know about her and Alex?"
Olivia paused, trying to decide how to answer his question. She'd known Alex since she and Gregory started to date, but he'd known her longer. And he was her now. "They've been friends since college. Why do you ask?"
"Nothing." He shrugged softly, staring deeply into her eyes. "Just curious. Goodnight dad."
"Goodnight Sean." She watched him head downstairs towards the kitchen and tried not to let his odd behavior bother her too much. Of course Gregory was spending more time with Alex than she usually did. Alex was his best friend. Maybe that was what Sean was confused about. She could hear them talking through the door.
Alex was laughing and after a moment, Gregory was laughing too. She knocked lightly before opening the door. Gregory immediately looked guilty as he tucked the nightgown behind his back. "Darling!"
"You look better." Olivia deadpanned as she took in the mess in front of her normally neat closet.
Alex turned to tuck the lacy things in her hands away as she winked at Olivia. "He's doing a lot better. We were just talking about what you should do when you got done with your party." She shut the closet and kissed Gregory's cheek as she fluttered out of the room. "But don't you worry about me. Rose can show me where you keep your car keys."
"Goodnight Alex-" Olivia took her hand she stopped in the doorway to the master bedroom. "Thanks, for all your help."
"We do appreciate it." Gregory piped up as he debated what to do with the nightgown he still help sheepishly in his hands.
"Tomorrow esquire." Alex finished with a wave of her hand.
Olivia shut the master bedroom door and sighed in exhaustion. "Are you all right sweet heart?"
Gregory folded the nightgown, black and lacy, away and stuffed it on his vanity in a ball. "I faked it."
Stopping dead in the middle of removing her tie, she raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Faked it?"
He sank onto the bed and stared sheepishly up at the ceiling. "I couldn't handle the crowd anymore. It was too much thinking-"
"How do you move, how do you speak, who do you smile at and who do you shake hands with?" Olivia finished with a smile. "You could have warned me."
"For awhile I thought I might not have to fake it." Gregory admitted to the ceiling as he listened to Olivia getting ready for bed. "Your head's a mess."
Olivia pulled her suit off and left it neatly over the back of her chair. Gregory could here her rustling in her closet and then ducking into the bathroom to brush her teeth. He thought about getting up and changing, but instead he just closed his eyes for a moment.
The kiss on his cheek woke him. Olivia smelled clean, like almond soap and toothpaste. He reached up to caress her cheek. "Hello darling."
"Tired?" She settled down beside him. Sharing his quiet gazing into the ceiling.
"A little." Gregory admitted softly as he found her hand next to his on the bedspread. "Not enough to prevent me from enjoying myself a little."
She ran her fingers playfully over his hip. "Hopefully more than just a "little"."
Giggling as he rolled out of reach, Gregory got to his feet and pulled his arms free of his little ivory jacket. "I'll see what I can do." He reached behind himself for the zipper of his dress, but Olivia was off the bed before he had a chance.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him in. "You're beautiful."
"I used to think so." Gregory slipped the straps of his dress down his shoulders. "Then I didn't know what to think. Should I admit I found myself, my old self attractive? Try to get over how odd I felt about my new self-"
Olivia reached around him for the zipper on the back of his dress. "Maybe you shouldn't think so much."
The zipper sang down the curve of his spine and he shivered as her fingers followed it down. "Maybe not." He conceded as his dress slipped down to his feet. "Maybe I should just give in to your manly charms."
"I thought I was prissy." She teased as she kissed her way up his cleavage to his mouth.
Gregory sighed appreciatively as her fingers danced over the bare skin of her back. She stopped and rescued his diamond necklace. She set it carefully aside as he took off his earrings. "Wouldn't want to lose those. I paid a fortune for them once upon a time"
She turned them around, putting him closer to the bed. "They're lovely." Nibbling his ear insisted that she preferred him to any jewelry. Gregory felt the heat tease his skin. When her lips melted insistent against his, he felt good. Better than good. Amazing, pulsing with life. It was intoxicating. She was intoxicating. Every touch of her skin was another sip of liquor.
Olivia undid the strapless bra with a single deft motion of her hand. His nipples responded immediately to the friction of her chest as she pushed him back to the bed. The bedspread pulled free from the corner of the mattress and Gregory felt it bunch beneath him.
Running her hand over the inside of his knee, Olivia waited for her body to respond. Kissing him only added to her need, the tightening as her skin grew unbearably warm. His coolness was the cure, the softness of his flesh was the answer. He moaned, meeting her eyes as the involuntary sound made him laugh. Smiling tenderly, Olivia gave in to the feeling of his legs as he pulled them up for her. Rising up on her knees, she removed the last bit of fabric between them and realized she wasn't sure if she remembered the whisper of silk panties as they slipped free of her ankles.
She hadn't been Gregory for more than a day, and already, his body was hers. Want brought a catch to her breath. Gregory was laughing again as her thumb danced too lightly across his stomach. His tongue apologized as it flicked across her neck. He couldn't help being ticklish, he'd inherited that along with the distracting softness of his breasts. She'd taken them for granted, tucked them into bras and buried them in fabric when they were hers. Now she just wanted to explore them. Run lazy fingers across the undersides as she waited for his skin to grow damp with sweat.
It was already starting in his hairline. Gregory could feel the sweat herald the desperate yearning of his body. Olivia was taunting him, poised as she was between his legs. He didn't remember being impatient. Wishing his body could be controlled, spurred to action whenever he wished it. Maybe the anticipation was worth it. Gregory promised himself as Olivia's fingers teased a groan of surprise from his throat. He bit her lip in retaliation, feeling the sharp intake of air as she grew that much closer. Her fingers found his hands, forced them up, back against the bed. He couldn't move. He couldn't touch her back, or plead his fingers across the muscles of her chest.
He was helpless to do anything but respond to her exploration of the inner softness of his lips. Olivia watched his eyes widen as her knees teased him just long enough to wonder if he was as ready as her body demanded he be. Gregory cried out when she joined them. He writhed beneath her, using his legs to pull her closer when he refused to free her fingers. She continued to struggle slightly, but the perfection of moving within her was too distracting. She dropped her forehead to the bed next to him and concentrated on the moment of her body. Thrust- heartbeat- exhale- retraction- breath-
He kissed her neck, trailing across to her shoulder. Gregory arced up for a moment before using his legs to hold her closer. "Liv-" Her name was a prayer and his thanks. His future and his beginning. Sweat eased the marvel of skin on skin. His hair tumbled free of Bette's careful pinning and joined the rumpling of the sheets.
Olivia caught her breath, and in the pause before she lost it again, "I love you."
His heart threatened to beat out of his chest. He tightened the death grip on her fingers. Her hands flattened his to the bed effortlessly. He pulled, trying to free his hands to sink his fingers into her back. He was trapped beneath her. Safe and isolated from everything but the motion of her body. Glitter dance through his vision. All his perception sank down, terminating in a single thread that waited, breathless, to be unraveled.
Breath won and lost hissed through lips that had better things in mind. In an instant, as they traded fulfillment as seamlessly as they had their souls, Gregory saw her in the eyes that had been his. He heard her in the tremor of his voice. She felt her skin as his hands finally sinking into the flat expanse of his back. His lips were hers as she felt stubble beneath them.
The shuddering, collapse to lay panting on the pale sheets brought them back to themselves. Gregory curled towards her, being out of contact was too disconcerting. Their breath came on the heels of each other, hearts pounded with equal vigor. In that moment, in her arms, he was absolutely content with the floating of his head and the warmth of being pressed into her back. He didn't care who he was, what body he was banished too. When he was with her it was special. Unique and consuming. Their identity was lost in foreplay only to be returned in the poetic quiet that followed. He knew what he was to her. That had remained over all things, she was familiar.
The body was the dream. Her touch was the reality.
Breath slowed in his chest, and eventually his heart calmed. His skin was still on fire. Even the weight of the sheet was "My fingers are still tingly." Gregory complained softly as Olivia found his hand.
"Poor darling." She kissed his wrist and rolled towards him, smiling as the bed creaked beneath her. "It'll go away."
He sighed and ran his hand along the line of her waist. "I like it."
Tucking his hair away behind his ear, her eyes softened further. "Then maybe it won't go away."
He giggled, laughter came easier lately. "Oh really? That sounds like a proposition."
"I'd know better then to proposition you Mrs. Richards." Olivia teased as she arranged his fingers inside her own. "You might just take me up on it."
He pulled his knees up, resting them against her legs. "I love you."
Her thumb brushed against his cheek. "I know that." She pulled up the blanket over the champagne colored sheets. "But I would like to know why you look so concerned."
"Concerned?" Gregory echoed softly as he tried to ignore the presence of her hand on his thigh. "What would I have to be concerned about?"
Olivia knew the quiet denial in his voice. She wondered if it was as obvious to him when she didn't know how to tell the truth. "Are you still upset that I gave you the flu?"
He leaned forward quickly and kissed her cheek, surprising her out of her guilt. "Liv it's all right. I'm fine." He played with the naked skin of his chest as he realized how soft it could be. "Didn't I just convince you?"
She pulled his hand up to her lips and kissed it thoughtfully. "You might have to convince me again." Her leg slid between his as she rolled him over to kiss him. "In case I didn't believe you the first time."
Gregory surprised himself by wanting to kiss her. It was late. He expected his body to be tired, instead the weight of her above him was threatening to bring the tingling back full force. Olivia kissed him slowly, taking her time to explore the sensations of his mouth. She worked his way down his neck, prompting him to let the sheet slide away from his body as she wandered her way downward. The wet heat of her mouth drew a gasp of surprise as she closed it around a tender part of his breast.
Olivia looked up from his stomach, running her hands over his breasts made it difficult to hear her. "I want to ask you something."
"Hmm?" He opened his eyes with great disappointment as she kept her hands still on his chest.
"About Alex..." Olivia traced a circle over his stomach before trailing a slow line down across his hip.
He bit his lip and reached down to pull her head up to his own. "What about Alex?" Running his tongue over the tender place behind her ear did the same thing he remembered it doing to him. Her eyes were huge and black in the darkness.
"I feel things when I look at her." Olivia admitted shyly, trailing her hand down his chest towards his breasts again.
"Things?" Gregory teased as he raised his eyebrows and buried his hand in the hair on her chest. "What sort of-"
"I've had her, haven't I?" Olivia finally asked as she stopped flirting for a moment and let the conversation grow serious. "I remember things about her- think things when I touch her shoulder."
"You want to play with her hair?" Gregory answered with his own question. How could he explain?
"Not desperately." Olivia clarified as she lay back on her pillow. "Not the way I want you."
Gregory curled into her chest, draping one leg over hers. "I've never wanted anyone the way I want you-" He started to chuckle softly and rephrased. "You've never wanted anyone the way you want me, I mean." The kiss on top of his head comforted him more than anything she could have said. "It was college." He ventured finally. "We spent so much time together, it was nearly inevitable."
He twisted around to look up at her. "It was before I even met you. I'm surprised sometimes, that I still think about it when I see her. But it's just thinking Liv." He pulled the sheet up to his chest as he sat up. "It's not the way it is with you. God- no one's ever been like you."
Olivia pulled him back down to her chest and kiss him hard enough to drive away all of his fears. She caught her hand in his hair, drawing it back from his face as she smiled up at him. "I was just curious. I'm not used to looking at a woman and thinking about what she'd look like when she's out of her clothing."
"Oh-" Gregory felt the blush as Olivia pulled the sheet away from his chest. "I don't look at other men- I mean- I go crazy when you're near me sometimes but you're-"
"The only man I've ever wanted." Olivia's hands ran down his back in a slow line of warmth. "I know."
"I don't want her." Gregory tried to explain.
Crushing his lips with hers made his response unnecessary. Olivia's fingers dipped suggestively between his legs and Gregory nearly melted against her. "I want you." She nibbled his lower lip before she coaxed him higher.
"I thought you were worried about me being tired." Being breathless again was making it difficult to tease her.
Playfully pretending to stop for a moment, she raised an eyebrow. "Nope. I don't think I could let you be tired tonight."
Laughing as he tried to pull away from her touch, Gregory gave her a mortified look. "So that's the way it's going to be-"
Olivia pulled him back and pinned him down again. "I'm Gregory Richards. I get whatever I want." Gregory shivered as she sucked the tender skin of his neck. She released him after a moment and let him take control.
He led her hands to his heart. "I think you have me."
"Always have."