Chapter 97

It was the morning of day four in the hospital. Olivia woke up with severe pain in her ribs from the effort of nothing more than breathing. God she hated this. It had only been three hours since her last Vicodin so she couldn't have another one yet and Emma was due any minute. She hadn't seen her since everything had happened and she really didn't want to be wincing in pain while she was there.

She was grateful that the swelling had gone down on both of her head injuries and with it, full function of the right side of her face had returned. It had taken some vision therapy, that she would have to continue for another few weeks, to get her vision fully back, but luckily, that was all. Now it was just her speech, which was improving with some therapy and lots of patience, something Olivia didn't have much of.

Just as she was reaching to sneak a pain pill early before Natalia and Rafe came back, the door opened. 'Damn it.' She thought to herself. Her hand retreated from the bottle she was reaching for as her wife came into the room. "Hey s-sw-sweetheart. What did y-you bring me for l-lu-lunch today?"

"Buzz sent his tuna noodle casserole and some soup." She answered, walking over to kiss her wife's lips.

"Mmm. Tuna noodle c-ca-casserole. W-where's Rafe?"

"I asked him to give me a minute with you before he came in. He wasn't happy about it but agreed to go and wait for Emma and Phillip out front."

"I k-know. I wish h-he would do more t-th-then just s-sit here. A-Ava went back to w-work, I w-wish he would too. E-even if only p-pa-part time."

Natalia decided to keep the fact that Ava was throwing herself into work and shutting down emotionally to herself. She would talk with Ava once they got Olivia home. "Me too. I really just wish he would say more than a few words. I'm really worried about him."

"Me t-too. We'll get him t-th-through this. To-together."

"Yes we will." Natalia agreed and kissed her wife's lips sweetly.

"So. What's w-wrong?"

"Why do you think somethings wrong?" Natalia asked innocently.

"H-honey, I know y-you. You want to t-talk to m-me without a-anyone else present, t-th-that means, something's u-up. So?"

"Nothing's wrong baby, I just wanted to make sure you were feeling okay."

"Natalia." She warned.

"Okay. Fine. I'm worried about Emma."

"What about E-Em-Emma?"

"Well, we haven't told her anything more than that there was an incident at the house and she had to stay with her daddy a little longer. She's a smart girl Olivia. When she comes in here and sees you like this, she's going to know that someone hurt you, and she's going to assume it was Frank. What if it makes her nightmares worse? Phillip said she's had a couple since she went to stay with him."

"You don't w-want me to s-see Emma?" Olivia ask, both hurt and anger lacing her words.

Natalia sat on the edge of the bed and cupped Olivia's cheek. "No honey, that's not it at all. I want you to see Emma, so much. I just, I want to know what we're going to say to her. How are we going to keep her from being even more afraid then she already is?"

Olivia leaned into the hand on her cheek. "We're g-going to tell her that m-mommy got hurt, but that I'm g-ge-getting better. We'll tell her that I get t-to go home tomorrow, and that e-everything is going to be alright."

"But what if she ask questions?"

"She w-will ask, she's my d-da-daughter, and we'll answer them a-as b-best we can without g-giving her too much i-in-information." Using the hand on her cheek, Olivia pulled Natalia down into a tender kiss. "It's g-going to be o-okay sweetheart. N-now, will you send Rafe in p-please. I want to t-talk to him before Emma c-comes."

Natalia kissed her one more time before standing from the bed. "Of course, baby. I'll go get him."

Natalia left and found Rafe out front, just as Emma and Phillip were walking in, or rather Emma was running, up to them. Emma jumped into Natalia's arms. "Ma! I've missed you. Is mommy okay? What happened? Can I go see her now?" She asked in a rush with no time between questions.

"I missed you too Jellybean. Mommy is going to be just fine. We'll talk about what happened in a little bit, and yes you may go see her in just a minute, she wants to talk to your big brother for just a second first." Natalia answered each question in the order they had been asked. Then glanced at Rafe. "Rafael, your mother would like to speak with you. Please go in and talk to her while I get Emma a snack and we'll be down in just a minute."

Rafe nodded but didn't say anything as he turned and headed back to Olivia's room. Natalia watched him go and then turned back to the girl in her arms. "Shall we go and get a snack and then go see mommy?"

"Why didn't Rafe say hi to me?"

Natalia set the girl back on her feet. "Oh honey, he's just tired. It's been a long few days. I'm sure he will when we get to mommy's room. Come on, let's go." The two walked down the hall towards the vending machines with Phillip and a security guard following close behind.

Rafe slowly opened the door to his moms room and stepped inside, taking the chair next to her. "Ma said you wanted to talk to me."

"Y-yes. Rafe, I know that y-you're blaming yourself for w-what h-ha-happen, but it's n-not your fault. It's F-Frank's fault. No one else. H-he did this to m-me. To us. You d-did everything you c-could son."

"No…"

"Yes." She cut him off. "Rafe, y-you…"

"NO!" He screamed. "I should have protected you. I should have been upstairs with you. I should have looked for you sooner. I didn't do anything until it was too late. I was there, in the house. I could have stopped him and I wasn't even aware anything was happening." By the time he finished he was sobbing, big fat tears streaming down his cheeks.

Olivia reached a hand to her son and struggled to sit up more in bed. "Rafe. C-come here." Although her tone was gentle, there was no doubt that it was a command and not a request. Rafe slowly stood and made his way to the bed, sitting close to Olivia but not looking at her. "Rafe, l-look at m-me." Rafe raised his head and met Olivia's eyes for the first time in three days. Tears were silently running down his face but he made no move to wipe them away. "Rafe, my s-son. I know it's h-hard. I k-know y-yo-you're a-angry. I a-am too. But you c-can't keep b-bl-blaming yourself. W-what happened, it w-was no one's fault but F-Frank Cooper. I know it's g-going to t-take time, but right n-now, I need you to be b-brave and at least t-try. Please. E-Em-Emma is g-going to come in t-th-that door any s-second and she n-needs us both to be strong. T-to show her t-that it's okay. Once she's g-gone you can br-beak down a-again, b-but right now, she n-needs us. C-can you do t-that for me?"

Rafe nodded. "Yes ma'am. I'm sorry mom, I'm…"

"No m-more of that. W-we'll talk more to-tomorrow w-when I get h-home. Okay?"

"Okay."

Olivia pulled him to her and kissed his head. "It's g-going to be okay s-son."

Before he could respond, Emma came running in the door and straight to her mother's side. Trying to climb up on the bed. "Mommy!"

"Jellybean!"

Rafe quickly dried his eyes and got off the bed. Going over to Emma and lifting her carefully up next to Olivia. "Hey there munchkin. Be careful, mom's still hurting a little."

Emma first noticed her mother's head that no longer was wrapped but still had a bandage over the cut on her temple. "Does your head hurt bad mommy? What happened to you? Did someone hurt you? Are you going to be okay? When can we go home?"

Olivia chuckled at her daughter's rapid-fire questions and did her best to wrap her daughter in her arms and kiss her head. "My head i-is fine. I'm g-going to be j-just fine my l-little Jellybean. I get to g-go home t-to-tomorrow." She answered, ignoring the other two questions her daughter had shot off.

Emma looked at her mother with serious eyes. "Mom." She said sternly. "What happened? You can't talk right. I know something bad happened."

Olivia looked to Phillip and Natalia. She didn't know how to answer. Her daughter had never called her mom before, only mommy. She knew this was the beginning of her baby growing up. She also knew that Emma wasn't going to quit until she got answers.

Natalia stepped over to the bed and placed a hand on Emma's back, grabbing Olivia's hand with the other. She looked Emma in the eyes and spoke the truth. "Emma, baby, mommy was attacked at the house on Friday night. She hit her head and has some broken ribs. She's having some trouble talking because of where she got hit right there." She released Olivia's hand and pointed to the bandage on Olivia's temple. "She's going to be okay; it's just going to take some time. We are all just going to have to help mommy for a few weeks."

Emma turned her eyes from Natalia back to Olivia. Anger bubbled in the little girls chest and her parents could see fire burning in her eyes. She looked like a small version of a pissed off Olivia. "Who did this? Who hurt you?" She started out strong, but her bottom lip started to quiver and she was on the verge of tears by the time she finished the short questions.

Olivia pulled her to lay against her on her uninjured side. She held her close and kissed the top of her head. "I-it's okay Em. I'm o-okay."

Emma shot up and leapt from the bed, pacing similar to the way her mother would. "No, it's not!" She shouted. Natalia tried to approach her but Emma pushed her away. "Don't touch me. You let mommy get hurt."

Natalia's heart broke at those words. Olivia saw and reached for Natalia's hand. Sitting up as far as she could without causing too much pain. She laced her fingers with Natalia's and rubbed circles on the back of her hand with her thumb. "Emma M-Ma-Marissa! Y-you do not s-speak to your m-mo-mother like th-that." She tried to be firm but with the stutter it wasn't as menacing as it used to be.

Emma turned to face her mother's; her arms folded across her chest. She started to open her mouth, but before any words made it out, Rafe had her wrapped in a bear hug. "It's okay Em. Mom really is okay. It's no one's fault but the man who hurt her. Not Ma's, or mine, or Ava's. No one could have stopped this." He whispered into her ear. Somehow seeing Emma like this and hearing her blame their Ma had instantly made him know the truth, Frank was the only one to blame for this. Though he still had other things about the situation hurting him, he knew he had to make Emma understand that Frank was the only one to blame. Their family couldn't turn against each other.

Emma was sobbing into Rafe's shoulder. Tears soaking through his shirt. "Did Frank do this to mommy?" she choked out.

Rafe didn't hesitate to answer, he knew his little sister was smart and there was no point in lying to her. "Yes, he did."

"Is he in jail now?"

"Yes munchkin he is. And he won't get out on bail this time. He's going to go away for a very long time." He answered. Rubbing Emma's back who was still lying on his shoulder crying.

Emma pulled back enough to look into Rafe's eyes. "You promise?"

"I promise baby girl."

"I want to see him. I want to see him in jail."

Rafe looked at the other three adults in the room. He wanted to see Frank too. He wanted to scream at him for hurting his mom. Truth be told, he wanted to ring his neck. Phillip came and took Emma from Rafe's arms.

"Why do you want to see Frank honey?"

"Cause, I need to know he's really in jail. Last time everyone said he was in jail but then he wasn't. Now mommy is really hurt and he could hurt Ma or take her away if he's not in jail."

Phillip nodded, he understood. He glanced over at Natalia and Olivia who were wearing matching expressions to his. Understanding, heart break, and worry, all rolled into one. "Emma, you know daddy won't let anyone ever hurt you right?"

"Yes, but what about mommy, what about Ma?"

"Well, remember how we talked about Paul and Jeremy? They are going to be with you and mommy and Natalia and your brother and sister during the day, and John and Stanley will be there at night. No one will be able to hurt anyone Em, I promise."

Emma nodded but it wasn't enough for her. She needed to see that Frank was locked up. "I still want to see him." She stated.

Olivia cleared her throat. "Okay Em. W-wh-when u-uncle Rick lets me o-outta here, we'll all g-go to the station and y-you can see for yourself that F-Frank is l-lo-locked up and can't h-hurt anyone anymore."

After some more conversation about what had happened, and finally getting Emma calmed down enough to go back to the Spaulding Mansion with Phillip, the two left. Rafe, Natalia, and Olivia chatted for a while until Olivia needed another pain pill and got tired again. Once she was asleep, Natalia took Rafe's hand and led him from the room. The two walked down the hall to the hospital chapel. Natalia led Rafe to one of the pews and sat down next to him.

"Okay Rafe, if you won't talk to me, and you won't talk to mom, maybe you'll talk to god." She turned to face the front and closed her eyes to pray herself. Something she had done several times a day since Olivia had been admitted.

Rafe watched her for a few moments. He wanted to pray, he wanted to feel the peace that it once brought him, but he couldn't. He was too angry at God. Olivia had already been through so much. He remembered screaming at God in Chicago when Olivia almost died, when he finally excepted her as his mom. He blamed him then, for almost taking another parent from him, he blamed him more now. Olivia was in the hospital again. God had let her get hurt again, she could have died, Frank was so close to pulling that trigger. Images from Friday night raced through his head. He tried to shake them from his memory but couldn't. All he could see was Olivia unconscious and Frank holding a gun to her head.

Natalia heard her son gasp next to her and opened her eyes. Tears were running down his face and his eyes were skewed shut. Tentatively she place a hand on his shoulder and shook slightly. "Rafe, Rafe, look at me." When his eyes only closed tighter, she took his face in her hands. "Rafael, open your eyes mijo, look at me."

Rafe's eyes slowly opened and met the brown orbs of his mothers. He collapsed into her and held her tight. His body shook from the strength of his sobs and he was panting. He couldn't get a full breath and his tears built to a flood on the front of mothers shirt. She held his head close to her with one hand and rubbed his back with other.

"Shh. It's okay mijo. I'm here. It's okay." She continued to rub his back and whisper soothing words until his tears subsided. He didn't lift his head from her chest, but his breathing was beginning to even out. Natalia knew if she had any chance of getting her son to open up to her, now was it. "Rafe, can you tell me what you were seeing just now? What got you so worked up?"

Rafe shook his head against her and said nothing. Natalia let out a sigh. She needed Rafe to talk to her. She couldn't have every one falling apart at once. Emma was so scared and she knew Olivia was trying to be strong but was going to break eventually. Then there was Ava, she was pretending to be unaffected. So much like her mother. But Natalia could see it in her eyes, in the way she was throwing herself into work, and barely coming to the hospital. Ava was avoiding the fear and the pain of this whole mess, and just like Olivia, she was going to break at some point. Natalia needed to start somewhere. She needed to work on getting her family back to the strong unit they had been, because she herself was hanging on by a thread. To do that, she needed them to start talking. She thought for a moment, and then decided to try a tactic that had worked when Rafe was a boy and didn't want to talk.

"Rafe, por favor háblame. No puedo ayudar si no me hablas mijo." (Rafe, please talk to me. I can't help if you don't talk to me son.) Spanish had always helped Rafe to open up. When he was young and had a problem at school, he wouldn't talk unless Natalia spoke to him in Spanish. She assumed it was because not a lot of people around them spoke it so he felt safe to say what was on his mind because no one else could understand.

Without lifting his head, he spoke so softly Natalia had to strain her ears to hear him. "Ella casi murió Ma. Tenía el arma apretada y presionada contra su sien. Iba a matarla, y yo no podía hacer nada para detenerlo. Estaba allí y no podía protegerla." (She almost died Ma. He had the gun cocked and pressed against her temple. He was going to kill her and I couldn't do anything to stop him. I was right there and I couldn't protect her.) He gripped his Ma tighter as he finally spoke about how he was feeling in more than just a few words.

"No puedo imaginarme como debió sentirse en ese momento, pero tiene que saber que no fue culpa suya. (Rafe, I can't imagine how you must have felt right then, but you have to know that it wasn't your fault.) If you had tried to stop him, he could have killed you and mom. You did the right thing Rafe. You talked him down, you distracted him and made it possible for Olivia to do what she did. I read both of your statements, and I talked to Mallet and Remy. You were a hero in that room Rafael. You saved Olivia's life. It's not your fault she got hurt. You saved her."

Rafe finally sat up and wiped his eyes and nose on the back of his hand. "But if I had been paying more attention, if I had been up there then it wouldn't have happened in the first place."

"That's not true Rafe. If he had seen you, if he had known you were there, he could have done so much worse. He could have knocked you out or shot you. He could have just shot her and been done with it. Rafe, him not knowing you were there, it's what saved her life. I don't know what his plan was, but if he had known you were there, he could have done so much worse to either of you. I think the way it happen is the best possible outcome. Yes, Olivia is hurting, and it's going to take time for her to heel, but she's alive Rafe. He didn't kill her and he didn't get to go through with whatever he was planning. He's in jail, and according to Doris, he's going to be in prison for a very long time since he had a gun with him."

"But Ma, I could have stopped him before he hurt her at all."

"And you could have been shot. Or, if you had stopped him, he could have talked his way out of trouble. I'm not saying I'm glad that my wife is hurt, because I would give anything to have her not be here, but I also think that God works in mysterious ways. If you had stopped Frank, and he got off with nothing, then he would have been free to come after her or any of us again. It could have been worse. Now, he's looking at anywhere from twenty-one to sixty-two years in prison. Again, I wish with all my heart that this had never happened, that Olivia wasn't in that room having pain when she breaths and barely able to walk, but I'm certainly glad that we will be getting rid of Frank once and for all. And Olivia is so strong. I hate that she has to be, but she will be okay. I promise you Rafe, in just a few weeks your mom will be back to her old self. And she knows that you did all you could. And I can guarantee that she is thankful you didn't know he was there and that nothing happened to you. She would never forgive herself if you had gotten hurt during all of this."

"Well, that's how I feel. Like I can't forgive myself because she got hurt." Natalia went to speak but he held up his hand. He was finally ready to say what was really bothering him and if he didn't say it now he might not. "Look Ma, I know women can handle themselves, and I know you and mom don't need a man around, but I'm the man of the house. It's my job to protect all of you. I didn't do my job. I'm supposed to be a man and protect my family and I didn't do that. What kind of man does that make me Ma?"

"Oh Rafe. Is that what's bothering you so badly? You think you're not a man because you didn't stop a crazy guy with a gun?"

"It's not all of it, but yeah Ma. It's my job, it's my place in this family."

"Rafe, it is not your job to protect us. Olivia and I are the parents. It's our job to protect you. It's our job to make sure you and your sisters are safe and taken care of. I know you're not a little kid anymore Rafe, but you will always be my baby, my little boy. And it will always be my job to protect you. When you have a family of your own, when you have kids, that's when it becomes your job. Not before then Rafe."

"But Ma…"

"No Rafe. In this family, we all protect each other, but when it comes down to it, it's me and Olivia that are responsible for this family." Rafe just looked at her so she tried again. "Rafe, do you know what gave Olivia the strength to do what she did?"

"No." He answered, looking down at his feet.

"You Rafe. You gave her that strength."

"What do you mean?"

"Rafe, Olivia and I have talked a little bit, not a lot, she's not ready to tell me everything yet. I mean, she let me read her statement, but, she hasn't really talked to me yet. But, she has told me how she made that heroic move that got you and her both out of that situation."

"How Ma? Even Mallet and Remy don't know how she pulled off that action film style move. She had been unconscious just moments before."

"You mijo. She saw you, and that fear in your eyes. She knew she had to protect you, to get you out of that awful situation. It's like how they say when a child is trapped under a car, their mom can have the strength to lift it. It's the adrenalin of a mother fearing for their child that gives them that strength. The same thing happened for Olivia that day. She saw you and how scared you were and it gave her the power and the strength to fight through her own pain and get you both out of that situation. She had been unconscious, had a concussion, and several broken ribs, but in that moment, it didn't matter. She didn't feel an ounce of that pain, all she felt was her love for you. It was her job as your mother to protect you, so she did. She fought with everything she had. It was never your job to protect her Rafe, it's hers to protect you. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"Yeah, I guess, but I still feel like I could have done more, like I should have been able to stop it from happening at all."

Natalia brought him back into her arms and hugged him tight. "I know you do, and it's going to take some time, but we'll get through this, as a family we will all get through this." She held him a little longer before pulling back and wiping his tears with her thumb. "You ready to go back? I'm sure Olivia is awake and Ava will be here soon."

"Yeah, I'm ready. Thanks Ma. I'm not okay yet, but I think I will be."

"Good. I'm glad I could help." She hugged him once more and kissed his cheek. She let her lips stay pressed against his skin for a few moments. This kiss was for moving forward and getting her family through this. It was for the hope that Rafe really would be okay. It was one down and three to go. It was please let me hold it together until the rest of them are okay.