A/N: Here's chapter 18. Hope you like!
'Here goes!' Olivia asked as she knocked on the door while she entered. Her laughter was snatched away when she saw who was sitting at the desk with Will.
'Oh…my…God!' Elliot was also shocked.
'Dad?' Olivia looked as if she had just seen a ghost. Mind you, she thought she had.
'Whoa.' was the only word Elliot could think of to describe the situation.
'Olivia, is that really you?' Stan couldn't believe how much his daughter had changed in two years.
'Shouldn't I be asking you a similar question?' Olivia numbly asked.
'Uncle Will, I thought Olivia's dad was dead?' Elliot made a point that Olivia had been too scared to make herself.
'There's a long and complicated story behind that.' Stan addressed Elliot's point. Olivia was just standing with her mouth gaping. 'How's Mason?'
'Mason's fine.' Elliot answered Stan's question. It hadn't seemed to register in Olivia's head.
'And Karen?'
Olivia still didn't seem to realise that she'd been asked a question. 'Karen's fine as well.' Elliot answered again.
'What were you here for in the first place?' Will hadn't been expecting them to be at his office otherwise he would have made sure Stan wasn't there.
'Erm…I can't remember.' Olivia answered the one question she'd chosen to listen to. She turned and walked out the door.
'Olivia had said she needed to get some papers or something for Karen.' Elliot answered Will's question, before following Olivia to see if she was okay. 'Liv, wait up. Are you okay?'
'What exactly happened in there?' Olivia needed to clarify what she'd witnessed.
'Your dead father is not dead anymore.' Elliot answered the question as best as he could.
'Okay. That's what I thought.' Olivia sounded shaken. 'What do I do?'
'What do you mean?'
'Mason and Karen are never going to believe me when I tell them my dad's alive, because he's dead.'
'Olivia, he's not dead. He was standing right there. You won't be lying to them.' Elliot didn't really know what Olivia should do.
'He's been lying to us all this time' Olivia realised a few minutes later. They were both still standing at the elevator, making no attempt to get in.
'What do you mean?' Elliot was intrigued as to what Olivia was thinking.
'He let us believe that he was dead for two years. He lied to us yet again. I don't know why I'm surprised. That's what he's always done.' Just then, Will emerged from his office to see if they were still there.
'Are you okay?' Will asked an obviously shocked Olivia.
'I don't know. I think I just want to go home.' Olivia said as she hit the button on the elevator.
'Make sure she's okay.' Will shouted to Elliot as he went to catch up with her. Elliot didn't waste his breath on replying 'I'll try.'
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Elliot had caught up with Olivia. She was standing crying in the elevator. As soon as he got in, he hugged Olivia. How else do you comfort somebody who's just found out her dad's back from the dead?
'Are you going to tell Mason?' Elliot didn't bother asking if Olivia was okay because he already could tell.
'I kinda have to, don't I? He would never forgive me for letting him believe the lie. I can't become a liar like my father.'
'Don't take this the wrong way, but shouldn't you hear his reason for faking his death before you call him a liar?'
'What are you talking about?' Olivia sounded offended.
'Well, I just think he would have had a good reason for faking his death. People don't usually leave their children unless they have a good reason.'
'So, was going to jail a good reason for him leaving us? He left us then. He was breaking the law and he didn't give a shit about how it would affect us.' It wasn't often that Olivia felt the need to use foul language, but right now she was raging. Everything that Stan had ever done that had hurt her, like him going to jail, was going through her mind.
'What I mean is a real reason. Something that he had to get away from. Like if someone was threatening to kill you and Mason and he offered his life instead of yours.'
'I think you've been watching too many action movies.' Olivia dismissed his suggestion.
'All I'm saying is listen to his reason before you decide whether he's lying or not.' Elliot tried to make his point clear.
'How am I going to tell Mason?' Olivia panicked when she realised that she had to tell her brother the news.
'Just tell him what you saw, and if he doesn't believe you, I'll be there to back you up.' Elliot assumed that Olivia was going right home to tell Mason.
'I don't think he'll believe me.' Olivia sounded vulnerable.
'He probably won't at first, but you'll just need to convince him. And if all else fails, take him to talk to Uncle Will.' Elliot didn't know where all the good advice was coming from.
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When Elliot and Olivia arrived at the Walker penthouse, they were relieved not to find Karen downstairs. They went straight up to Mason's room to talk to him. When they arrived at his room, Mason couldn't help but noticed how white Olivia's face had turned.
'Whoa, Liv. What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost or something!' Mason had inadvertently given Olivia a good way to open.
'Well, I kinda just did.'
'What?' Mason was slightly confused.
'Good luck.' Elliot whispered to Olivia.
'You know how Dad died two years ago?'
'Yeah.'
Olivia took a deep breath before speaking again. 'Well, he didn't die.'
Mason needed a minute to realise what Olivia had just said. 'What?'
'He faked his own death. He's been lying to us again.' Olivia couldn't help but give her opinion on what she thought of her dad's actions.
Mason waited for a few minutes before asking, 'How do you know?' He seemed to believe what Olivia was telling him.
'I went to Uncle Will's office to pick up some papers for Karen and there he was, sitting opposite Uncle Will at his desk.'
'Wow. Does Karen know?' Mason didn't seem as shocked as Olivia had been.
'I don't think so. Do you believe me?' Olivia wanted to be sure Mason wasn't going to turn around and call her a liar.
'Yes, of course I believe you. Why would you lie about something like that?'
'Thank you so much. I thought you wouldn't believe me.'
'Do you think we should tell Karen?' Mason didn't know what he expected the answer to this question to be.
'We probably should. But how do we tell someone that the love of their life is back from the dead?'
'Can't be anymore difficult than telling your brother that his dad's back from the dead!' Elliot thought he was making a valid point. Then again, he didn't know Karen as well as Olivia and Mason did. He didn't know how Karen could react. He wasn't aware of Karen's little drinking problem. There were some things you just didn't tell even your best friend in the world.
A/N: There's chapter 18. I'm kinda sad that I'm going to be finished soon. Hope you like. Thanks to karengraciewalker and Panema for reviewing the last two chapters. I'll warn everybody again that you'll probably not like where I'm going to go with this. Enjoy!