Author's note: Hey! If you are here, then first of all, I am so sorry it took me so long to update this story, but I am back and I am doing my best with both Daughter and The One That Got Away.
This will be a little bit slower, because I feel as if Olivia's character needs some building. I didn't forget about your request for the boys to appear on this story again, and they will be on the next chapter. I am sure that by the title you could understand who this chapter is going to be about.
Thank you so much for reading and supporting this story, I hope you enjoy this one and leave me your thoughts!
14 years ago
There is someone knocking on the front door to the Sullivan house.
Robert furrows his brow in confusion, not really used to having any guests dropping by unannounced, and he can't remember inviting anyone over that evening.
He twists the key in it's hole and opens the door only a third of the way, so he can get a peak at whoever it is who decided to invite themselves to his home.
It is raining heavily outside, like it does more often than not in the city of Seattle, and in his threshold stands the man who used to be his best friend, right before his whole world turned upside down only a year ago. "What are you doing here?" Robert asks sharply, his manners non existing in that particular moment.
Ripley huffs, and places his hand on the door so Robert won't be able to shut it in his face like he planned to do. "I just want to talk. We went from being practically brothers to not exchanging a single word for an entire year in a blink of an eye. I don't want to leave things this way." He almost begs.
"You are the reason my daughter has to grow up without her mother." Sullivan accuses.
That day, those awful moments when he lost the love of his life, ran through his mind more times than he could count in the past year. Haunting him during his waking moments, appearing in his nightmares. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized there was nothing anyone, Ripley or him, could do.
There was nothing any of them could have done to save her, to bring her back to life.
And yet, the anger he has inside him towards his best friend never subsided. He still blames him, even if only for the fact that he needs someone to have responsibility for this tragic event, other than God himself.
Ripley knows that much. He could never understand the pain his friend is going through, not completely, but he was happy to play the role of his punching bag for the last year, if it means his friend was hurting just a little bit less.
But it has been a year, and he had had enough of the silent treatment. "I came to talk about her."
"Don't you dare mentioning my daughter." Robert hisses through gritted teeth. They are still standing at the entrance to the house. Robert is not inclined to invite the man in, and Lucas doesn't want to push too far, past the breaking point.
So they both stand there, looking into each other's eyes, waiting for someone to be the first to crack.
Robert waits for the unwanted company to leave, while Luke waits for an invitation to stay.
As if she knew she is the topic of the very heated conversation between the two men, Olivia appears out of nowhere, makes her way on her wobbly feet. She is two years old, yet still has some of that baby fat clinging on to her body, making her look a little chubby, and oh so very sweet.
Robert can't help but wonder as he watches her approaching the two men, working her charm even from afar. He can't help but wonder what will happen when the fat disappears, and she will grow into a child, then a teenager, then a young woman.
The small girl slips through the crack in the door and stands between the two tall men, looking between her father and the man she can recognize, but doesn't fully know who he is exactly, a look filled with confusion on her face. Then recognition hits her, and her whole face lights up as if she had just gotten a brand new toy to play with.
"Uncle Luke!" She calls excitedly in her little voice. She reaches her hands up for him to pick her up in his arms, and he does exactly as she wishes, can't refuse those big brown eyes looking at him.
It has been a year since the last time she saw him, but beforehand he was quite the regular guest at their house, and apparently he made an impression on the little girl, one that she remembers fondly. "Hey, Livia! Look how big you are! I barely even recognized you!" He greets her, holding her tight into his chest.
Something inside of Robert relaxes when he sees his little girl happy to be lifted off the ground by his former best friend.
She is so much like her mother it pains him sometimes. She is charming, and she trusts people way more easily than he ever did. He is sure that if Claire was still here, their daughter would have resembled her in many more different ways.
"Can I come in, so we can have a talk about it? It doesn't seem like the topic you can discuss by the door." Luke asks.
Sullivan opens the door fully, lets Luke stroll in, still holding his little girl in his arms.
Nothing has really changed in the house since the last time Ripley visited, so he finds his way into the living room and sits on the couch in no time.
Even though some people may not call it the best method to handle grief, Robert made sure to leave almost everything the way it was that day Claire left the house, but never returned. He even left that George Micheal CD inside the reader, though he can't bring himself to listen to it.
He knows he probably should move, or at least sort through some of her belongings, but every time the thought appears in his mind, it feels like he betrays her memory somehow .
Maybe a part of him, as irrational as it might be, still believes she will come home someday, apologize for the year she was absent, ready to fit back into their life. If something like this ever happens, she will sure as hell be angry with him for ruining her perfectly decorated house.
Robert makes his way to the kitchen and grabs two cold beer bottles out of the fridge. He takes his time opening them, and looks at the interaction between his daughter and Ripley for a moment.
Lucas was always great with children, better than Sullivan ever was, better than he thought he can ever be. He is a natural, and they love him, and it used to pinch lightly, to see how easy going he is with Olivia, because Luke never had children of his own.
By the way his marriages tend to work out, he probably never will.
Robert places the two bottles on the coffee table, then turns to his daughter, who still sits in Ripley's lap. "Livia, why won't you get one of your dolls and play for a while, OK? Daddy needs to talk about something." The little girl nods, then hops on the floor and makes her way to fetch her favorite toy.
Each of the men grabs one of the beer bottles, and takes a big swig of it, before Sullivan breaks the silence. "You are really good with her." He acknowledges.
"This is what I wanted to talk about, actually. I know that you two don't have anyone else in your life but each other. I can't force you on keeping me in your life, but please, I am her godfather, let me be part of hers."
"I don't know." Robert hesitates. He looks down to the bottle, and moves his fingers across the rim of the neck.
The little girl makes her way back to the living room, and Robert knows that she is oh so curious about the conversation between the two adults, even if she can't quite grasp what is going on yet. Another trait she definitely inherited from her mother.
"Please." Lucas tries again. "I don't want anything more than you are willing to give. Maybe a few occasional visits, and Christmas and birthday presents? How does this sound to you?"
Deep down, Robert knows that this is what Claire would have wanted. She liked Luke, he is sure of that. She thought he was a good man and a good friend to Robert. And he can almost hear her saying to him to put his trust again in this man. To let him back into his and Livia's life.
"Fine." Robert huffs. "I agree to these terms, even though you have to know, for a two year old, this girl is very picky with her presents, and for some reason she never wishes for the cheapest item in the store."
"No shit." Lucas murmurs, before Robert has an opportunity to stop him.
Robert sighs, knowing fully well what is about to happen.
Livia lifts her little face up from her toy, looking deep into Ripley's blue eyes and repeats "No shit", even though she has no idea what that particular word means.
Both of the men look at the little girl, and burst out laughing.
Present Day
"Hey dad, dinner is ready!" Liv shouts in the general direction of the living room, where she knows her father lies sprawled on the couch, watching one of those mediocre crime shows on Netflix he absolutely loves, but will never admit so. They are sharing one of those rare Sundays, when he doesn't have to work and she doesn't have to study for any upcoming tests (or so she tells herself, anyway), and they can just spend their time in the house blissfully doing nothing at all.
He seems to ignore her, completely invested in whatever it is that he is bingeing, but as Liv makes her way to scold him that their dinner is getting cold, trying to figure out when did they switch roles, and she became the parent, she hears a knock on the door.
"Do you expect someone?" She asks her father, as she runs the details of her last conversation with Andy in her head. She told her Tuesday, so it can't possibly be her.
"No." Her father yells, and as Olivia notices he doesn't move an inch towards the door, she sighs and makes her way to find out who their uninvited company might actually be. She opens the door to a crack, and smiles as she sees the man standing in the entrance.
"Hey, Luke." She greets.
"Hey, Luke? " He repeats her words. "What happened to you yelling 'Uncle Luke' and coming to hug me?" The chief asks, a look of actual disappointment on his face.
"Well, I am sixteen now, not six." The girl answers, as if he is supposed to know that she is not going to practice childish behavior like that anymore.
Ripley nods his head, refuses to believe that the little girl who used to try and clip colorful hair pins to his hair is a young woman already. "I don't know how you are sixteen years old already. That makes me… Just old." He smiles at her direction.
"You are old, Luke." Sullivan calls loudly their way, still sitting on the couch.
"Well, I guess that this saves me the question whether your father is at home. I just came by to see how you two re-acclimate to the city of Seattle. I didn't mean to stay long."
Olivia sees the unexpected visit as an opportunity to get her dad used to having company over dinner, so he might get a little less mad when she finally tells him their plans for Tuesday evening. "You should stay." The teenager decides. "I just made dinner, and I prepared a lot more than what the two of us are capable of eating."
"I don't know." He hesitates.
"Stay." The girl insists, and she gives him the same stubborn look she sent Andy's way a few days ago in the gym, and it works like magic, as always.
"I mean, if your dad doesn't mind…" Luke trails off.
"He doesn't." Liv decides without even asking her father.
"So how have you been, Livia?" Lucas asks, trying to avoid an uncomfortable silence. "Last time I saw you, you were a lot shorter than you are today."
Olivia pulls another set of plate and silverware from the cabinets quickly, and sets the table to accommodate three people instead of just two. "Well, last time you saw me was years ago, and since then no one calls me Livia anymore. Liv is fine."
"I call you Livia." Robert joins in on the conversation, as he makes his way toward the kitchen. He opens the fridge and pulls out two beer bottles, opens them up and hands one of them to his best friend, who already found a seat by the dinner table.
"That is because you refuse to listen to me." She glares at her father, as they both find their places by the table. They all load their plates with food, and take the first few bites in silence. It isn't awkward as Ripley dreaded it to be, but rather pleasant, even if he hasn't seen the two of them in quite a long time.
"The food is excellent, Liv." Ripley compliments, emphasizing the way he says her name, exactly as she wanted it to be said. Since he can remember her, she always had her way of getting things exactly the way she wanted them to be, and though the year passed, this particular attribute never changed.
"Where did you learn to cook like that?" Ripley inquires as he takes another bite.
"The internet." She sits up a little higher in her chair. "Because if it was up to him," She points at her father. "I would have starved to death years ago, and frankly, so would my dad."
"What do you mean by that?" Lucas asks, his gaze moving between the father and the daughter.
"Do you want to tell him, or should I?" Olivia asks her father. They both have a feeling that as chief, Ripely won't approve of what he is about to hear.
"She means that I made it a habit to not eat with the other members of the crew." Luke gives him a stern look, which makes Sullivan feel like he needs to reason his action. "Meal times are when they get to have their space. The last thing they need or want at that time is that the new captain, who they don't really know or like, will be all up in their personal business."
"So I have been coming to the station, doing my homework, and I use this as an opportunity to see my dad, and to make sure he eats something more than a granola bar. I rather do that than hang out at home all alone when he is working." Olivia makes a well planned pause, and then adds as if she has forgotten. "Oh, and Andy. I keep her from starving too."
Olivia makes an act of facing down to her plate, as she slightly shifts her gaze to see how the name being said casually affects her father. He will never admit it, but his whole body tenses up when he hears her name. She can't quite understand what is actually going on between the two, if it is pure hatred or if it can be something more, but she is sure as hell determined to find out.
"Herrera, what does she have to do with anything?"
"She helps me cook." Olivia thinks about that statement for a minute, then corrects. "No, she actually makes more harm than she helps, but I am confident she will get there one day."
"Yeah, about that." Sullivan interrupts them. He chews the food in his mouth, keeping everyone on edge before he speaks. "Why don't you find a friend your age, instead of Herrera?"
"Because, everyone in my school already knows each other. No one wants to be friends with the new girl who transferred in the middle of the year." The words pinch her heart as she says them, because she knows the truth they hold in them. She takes a deep breath, and decides to keep those thoughts stored and locked for now. She won't let them throw her off her mission. "Talking about her, I invited her over to join us for taco night this Tuesday, so she will be eating with us." The girl says nonchalantly, and she almost chuckles when she sees her dad choking on the piece of chicken he just had.
"No she won't." Robert tries to protest, even though knowing his daughter, he is fighting a battle doomed to failure.
"Yes, she will." Olivia insists, yet keeps her face completely calm, letting her father know this has been settled already .
"Then, uninvite her." He tries.
"Can't do that."
"So I will leave the house for the night, and let you two have as many tacos as you want."
Olivia sighs and places her fork down. "Dad, I spent enough time trying to convince Andy that you are not as terrible as you seem, and believe me, it was a harder task than you might think it was. If she opens up to you, everyone else in her team will follow."
She leaves out her ulterior motive she has for inviting said fire fighter over for dinner. Ever since she can remember, her father never introduced her to another woman. As she grew older she understood that there were some women over the years, but nothing became a serious relationship. If you ask Robert Sullivan, he will tell you that the last thing he needs in his life is a relationship. That he had his one, great love story with Claire, and that it is everything he needed.
But Olivia knows her father better, and she just wants him to be happy, and when she met Andy for the first time, things have clicked in all the right places in her mind, even though Andy is clearly younger than her father. Neither of them knows it, but they might be just what the other one needs, and Olivia is sure they will get there, with some help on her side of course.
"Oh, good luck with that, Sully." Ripley says as the both men understand Sullivan has no way out of it.
"Personally, I think Andy is great." Olivia tries to advocate for the firefighter, who isn't present at the moment.
"She is… Many things. I think I would go with challenging, if you ask me."
"Oh, you have no idea how challenging she really is, Luke." Sullivan agrees.
"Well, I would go with smart, or kind. I bet she has a boyfriend." She sneaks her glance in the direction of her father, to see if that idea has any effect on him.
He stays still, and only remarks."Something that you are not allowed to have until you are 30, young lady."
Liv ignores whatever her father had to say and continues, trying further to see if the notion that Andy is dating someone is bothering him. "It might be Jack."
"I mean, if Gibson and her are dating, this isn't supposed to be a problem. They are both in the same rank." Luke interferes.
"Or maybe it is Ryan. She talks about him a lot, but I never got around to seeing him. Did you meet him, dad?"
"Yeah, I have. He is a cop, a pretty decent guy." Her father shrugs his shoulders.
Liv sighs and tries again. "She is really, really pretty, too."
Ripley and Sullivan exchange knowing looks, before her father scolds. "Eat your veggies, girl."
Olivia picks up a piece of broccoli and shoves it on her mouth, making exaggerated chewing noises as she bites into it.
The three around the table look at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing.