Author's note: Hey lovely people out there who are still interested in my story, again I'm so sorry for not updating earlier but my first semester is really killing me right now (plus, the show sort of makes me want to give up on watching Revenge, but I'll come to that later...). I appreciate all of your comments and messages, please keep them coming for they motivate me to continue this. Enjoy! :)
(And the chapter title is again inspired by a P!nk song in case you were wondering ;))
Victoria was slicing an apple when her gaze rested on the silver ring on her finger.
Absentmindedly she let a smile creep across her face and thought about David's sweet gesture. After the proposal he had explained that the ring had once been his mother's and that she had told him to keep it for someone special. However after her death he had forgotten about the piece of jewelry, so that it had spent almost 25 years in a box on top of his closet. The fact that David had rediscovered it when he came back to his old home together with Victoria proved once more that fate was telling them that they belonged.
A happy sigh escaped Victoria's mouth as she remembered how lucky she was to have found David.
"Mom, stop that! Your breath is destroying our house!" Suddenly she looked up and met the angry stare of her 6-year-old son, who was building a house of cards together with Amanda right next to her on the table.
"I'm sorry." She laughed and returned to slicing the apple again.
It was difficult for David and her to decide whether to tell the children what was going on or to keep them in the dark as long as it was possible. After also discussing the matter with Charlotte, who was genuinely happy for both of them, they went for the latter option because revealing to Amanda and Daniel that they were going to have a sibling soon would probably only add to the already existing tension and complicate their situation even more.
In contrast to the normally warm and dry weather, it had been pouring outside the whole day on that day, so that Victoria had to entertain the kids inside the house while David accompanied Charlotte into town to help her with the groceries. Although she had protested claiming that it would be too dangerous for him to be seen in public, David had ignored her worries because of her decreasing health. Since the day she had carried Daniel home from their trip to explore the property, it had become obvious that her condition was getting worse. Very often Charlotte was breathing heavily and she also had to sit down after any kind of physical exertion.
Victoria and David both found that it was time for her to finally see a doctor, but of course she was so stubborn and denied feeling weaker than usual.
So when he had convinced her to let him come to town with her, David's actual plan had been to trick her into getting a medical examination at the nearest hospital.
As for Amanda and Daniel, they had started playing a card game to pass the time, but it had turned out that Daniel was neither old enough to understand the strategy of the game nor could he stick to the rules. The two of them had almost been at each other's throats when Victoria had returned from the bathroom just in time to intervene. After a short lecture on fair play and the senselessness of violence, Amanda and Daniel had agreed to stop quarreling and began to build a house with the cards instead.
Now it was already early afternoon and still raining outside. Dark clouds gathered above making Victoria assume that there would probably be a storm within the next hour.
Inevitably, she shivered and felt her fingers trembling around the knife in her hands. Storms had always been her weakness. Since she had been a child, she was afraid of thunder and lightning and the sound of howling wind only added to her fear.
That reminded her of how much she loved the security she always felt when she woke up in David's arms almost every morning now. Every time she opened her eyes and found herself cradled into his embrace, she thought she was in heaven.
He never stopped asking her how she was and if the baby was okay and sometimes he simply lifted her shirt checking if her small bump had mysteriously grown overnight. More than anything Victoria appreciated those little gestures, because it showed her that he cared for her. Not that he just wanted to have her or to possess her, but that he was doing everything to make her happy and comfortable in their relationship.
Looking at her son and Amanda in that moment made her wonder if this was what she had truly wanted all of her life. Maybe it had really been the simple life she had always striven for.
Early in her childhood, when she was about six, Victoria remembered her good friend Mary. The two girls went to school together and often Victoria would come over to her friend's house to do some school work or simply play in the afternoon. However, what she liked most about those visits was Mary's family. Her parents really seemed to be in love and cared a lot for her daughter, very unlike Victoria's experiences with her own mother.
Mary's mother often asked Victoria about her mother and how she was doing since Marion rarely made the effort to pick her up from her friend's house so that the little girl had to walk home alone. Some days she was allowed to have dinner with Mary's family and then spend the night at their house. Her parents kissed their daughter good night and in the morning they woke the two girls so that they could have breakfast together and every time Victoria wished that she could stay there with them. Then one day, Mary's mother told them that Mary was going to have a little brother or sister and when some months later Mary's brother Andrew was finally born, 6-year-old Victoria Harper knew for sure that this was the life she wanted to lead when she was old enough.
Even when she had to move away because of one of her mother's love interests, the idea of Mary's warm and loving family remained in her head.
The problem was that over the years her own pain and desperation replaced that idea and she stopped believing in a happy ending to her story, so that other goals like wealth and power began to determine her actions.
But in the weeks they had spent at Charlotte's farm, Victoria unconsciously let the dream of her 6-year-old-self become reality again.
"Finished!" Daniel suddenly screamed and clapped his hands. "Mom, look we did it!"
Victoria smiled and glanced at the building of cards setting the knife aside.
"That's great, you two." She said offering Amanda a smile. The girl had been pretty distant and silent lately but never complained about Victoria's presence. Given their difficult history she considered that a good sign.
"And now you can have the apple I prepared for you." Victoria moved the plate further onto the table and Amanda immediately took a piece of the fruit. Daniel however crossed his arms and pushed the plate away.
"Only girls eat apples, Mom. It's not for me." He explained pursing his lips.
"Daniel, that is nonsense. Don't you remember what I taught you about healthy food? There are vitamins in the apple, which you need just as much as Amanda and I do. You do want to grow up and become a strong man, don't you?"
"Dad doesn't eat apples." Daniel snapped back.
"Your father, Daniel, is a lying asshole. He is dead to us now and you will never speak about him ever again." Victoria desperately wanted to say those words, to end Conrad's influence on her son once and for all. It really bothered her that Daniel's way of thinking was already shaped by his father's values and that he regularly asked when he would see him again. Still, she knew that she had to accept the fact that Daniel was not only her but also Conrad's child and she couldn't keep him from staying in contact with him. Thus she chose her next answer carefully.
"Danny, you cannot know this, but every morning Dad leaves for work, I put an apple into his bag, so that he can eat it during lunch break and think about his family." Lying to her own flesh and blood hurt, but still it was the best way to handle the situation.
"You mean that maybe now he's thinking about us?" Daniel's eyes widened.
"Oh, yes, and if you eat this apple, you can think about him, too."
The 6-year-old's immediate reaction was to grab a piece of the apple and stuff it into his mouth, which made Victoria realize how much he really missed home and more importantly his father all the more.
All of a sudden a loud crash interrupted Victoria's line of thought immediately followed by a frightened scream of her son. He had definitely inherited the fear of storms from his mother.
Therefore he turned his head and stared at her with sheer panic in his eyes. It didn't take another minute until he jumped from his chair to climb onto Victoria's lap and bury his face in her hair. He always did this when he was afraid. Even when he had been a baby he had been most comfortable with his head on his mother's shoulder between her dark curls surrounded by the familiar smell, which comforted him.
Victoria carefully tried to keep Daniel's trembling knees from kicking into her stomach too much, so she made him sit on her lap gently caressing his head.
"Daniel, calm down. Nothing can happen to you here."
In that moment, the garden was illuminated by lightning and another horrified scream escaped Daniel's mouth.
"Who's the girl now, huh?" Amanda triumphantly grinned at the boy, whose face reddened instantly.
"Amanda, don't be like that! It's not nice." Victoria admonished feeling Daniel's hands gripping her shoulders.
"Don't tell me how to be!" The 9-year-old returned upset by Victoria's authoritarian tone. "You can't order me around like you please!" She angrily stamped her foot and ran out of the room tears swelling in her eyes. All she wanted was to have her Dad back. Shouldn't that be the most normal thing in the world for a girl her age?
"Amanda, please…" Victoria wanted to go after her explaining that she didn't mean to sound so harsh, but as soon as she made the attempt to get up, Daniel clung to her hips.
"Mommy, don't go!" She looked into her boy's face and the expression she could find in his matching brown eyes, was all too familiar to her. She understood what he was going through.
"Okay, Daniel." She lifted him up although David constantly advised her not to do that anymore, plus she also felt her body protesting against Daniel's weight in her arms and on her hips. "We're going to handle this just like we always do at home. Do you remember?"
"Yeah. We climb into your bed and protect each other with the blanket and you and Dad's big fluffy pillows." The little boy put his arms around his mother's neck resting his head on her shoulder.
"That's right, darling. Only that now we'll go into Amanda's room because we also have to take care of her."
"But…" Daniel wanted to protest when his mother cut him off.
"No buts, Danny. Amanda needs our protection, too." On her way to the blonde girl's room there was another thunder roll and Daniel and her gasped almost at the same time. She slowly opened the door to Amanda's room and found her curled up on her bed.
"Amanda, hey." She softly said and entered the room.
"Go away." The girl replied with a cracked voice.
"No, I won't." Victoria already felt her back aching so she set Daniel down on the floor and took his hand.
"Why not?!" David's daughter required to know annoyed by the brunette's resistance.
"Because you shouldn't be alone when a storm like this is raging outside."
"It's not that bad. Just some rain and wind." Amanda replied sitting up on the bed. "I actually like to watch storms with my Dad."
Ah, so that was something Victoria could work with to break the ice again.
"Well, you have to know that Daniel and I are terribly afraid of storms, maybe you can show us what fascinates you about them."
Amanda curiously looked up and folded her arms. What did she just hear? The great Victoria Grayson admitting to her that she was afraid of storms?
"Yeah, I guess I could do that." She decided to answer granting the older woman another chance.
"Thank you, Amanda." Victoria smiled gratefully and guided her son to sit on the bed when between the sound of pouring rain she heard the phone ringing in the living room.
"Just a minute, I have to take this." Instinctively she turned on her heels to pick up the phone for David had promised to call her if he made it to the hospital with Charlotte. Taking the receiver into her hand she was anxious to hear what he had to report.
"Victoria?" Came a muffled voice through the line, which was obviously already damaged by the storm.
"Yes, David?" She answered impatiently.
"Just listen to me and do as I say. No secret plans this time, do you understand?"
"Yes, but David what is this about? Is everything alright?" Now Victoria became suspicious. Something was definitely wrong.
"I'll explain later." David stated trying to keep himself together and continued. "Victoria, pack our bags, the kids' bags and take all the money you can find. Tell Amanda and Daniel that we'll meet Aunt Charlotte at one of her friend's houses. If…"
Victoria's head was spinning. Why was he telling her this? "Wait, what is going on? I need to know." She interrupted him.
"No, for this one time just trust me to handle the situation, okay?" There was silence at the other end of the line so David moved on. "If I'm not back at the farm within the next 90 minutes, don't try to run, Victoria. Stay there with the kids and wait. I think we both know that it's too late then."
"David!" She screamed shocked by his pessimistic statement. "Stop making jokes now! You'll be here in the living room with me this evening like you have promised."
"Don't you get it, V? I'm not joking. This conversation has been too long already, so just do as I said." David almost ended the call when he remembered one important thing he still needed to say. "And V, no matter what happens today, I love you, okay? Don't you forget that."
"Yes." She whispered dumbfounded before the call was abruptly ended and she was left alone with his clear instructions.
Overwhelmed by the new information she let her body sink down onto the floor gripping her hair. From one moment to the other her fear of storms had become simply a light emotion somewhere in the back of her head while the threat presented by the real world had caught up with them again. Victoria's hand flew to her mouth to keep the desperate scream from escaping her lungs. Just when she had thought that, at least for some time, fate would have let her experience what it felt like to lead a life that for once felt right to her, that illusion was destroyed again.
Still, she wouldn't be Victoria Grayson, if she gave up so easily. Slowly, she rose to her feet again, swallowed the lump in her throat and went back to the children's room to start packing their bags.
She knew now more than ever that there was a life that it was worth fighting for and by no means would she disappoint David.
That was if he only made it to come back and save her and the children in time…
Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think. :)
For those who haven't seen the newest episode please don't continue reading. SPOILERS AHEAD!
I just have to get this off my chest because the show really upsets at the moment! I'm still grieving for Daniel because another great character that was on the show from the first episode was killed in a desperate attempt of the show runners to improve the show's rating by shocking the audience.
Seriously, I was shocked but only because I cannot believe what has become of Revenge, the show I once loved and that kept me excited for every single episode. The moment they killed Conrad and brought back David, I knew that it would never be the same. However, I decided to give Season 4 a chance and was hoping for Victoria and David to get back together and find a way to leave the past behind. But the current storyline is simply ridiculous (I mean who needs all those new characters? The writers should show more devotion to the original ones .) and the fact that in the last episode DAVID ACTUALLY TRIED TO KILL VICTORIA pissed me off so much! And I didn't even get why?! David should have better stayed a romantic flashback because his recent behavior makes it difficult for me to write about his character in my story.
Plus I really hate that Victoria has lost so much of her edge, so much of her sassy attitude and her evil plans. Yes, I do want her to be at peace with herself and let the good side of her character show (like I'm trying to achieve in my fic) but not like this! And then they're also making her suffer from losing a child? I don't know how she'll get through this especially since she's very vulnerable and confused at the moment because she desperately wants to have the life with David she was never allowed to have, but at the same time deep down she knows that it will never be like she had imagined and that she will never find complete security in his arms. And to me that is so sad since I've always thought of David as the love of her life.
Then her son for whom she has sacrificed so much in her life (betraying David and staying married to a man she despised, killing Helen Crowley, sleeping with Jason Prosser…) is taken from her forever. First, they brutally killed Pascal (maybe her last chance to find happiness), then her daughter left her for good and now the only child in her life gets shot by that stupid FBI agent. This is definitely too much cruelty to suffer for one character and although I obviously love Victoria as my favorite character ever I sometimes wish that she would just leave to get away from all the horrible things happening in the Hamptons…
Well anyways I could write so much more about this topic since it is really annoying me but I actually wanted to say to you that the current character development on the show won't affect my story. I also want to make clear that in my version Victoria doesn't know about Kara being alive so that fact cannot influence her decision to run away with David.
Okay again thanks for reading, I'm still really excited for what's yet to come in my story. Love you all and hopefully see you soon with a new chapter! xoxo