Saving Ma
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters and I do not make any profit from this
Chapter 6
They left the courthouse and headed to Company. Once they entered they made a bee line for the counter, Rafe bouncing on his feet excited to get his burger and get home to his little sister. Marina came to the counter to help them. "Hey Natalia, hi Rafe. So glad to see you out. What can I do for you." She said totally ignoring Olivia and irritating the Rivera's.
They both looked to her to answer. Olivia smirked. "We called in an order with Buzz. Should be ready by now." Marina huffed having not wanted to talk to her and headed back to the kitchen.
Buzz came out a second later. "Rafe, I am so happy to see you boy." He pulled him into a bear hug. "So what's the verdict? Parole, probation, what?"
Rafe chuckled, "Nope, free and clear. I have to have to have my mentor give weekly updates to the judge and I have community service but other than that, I'm done."
Buzz clapped him on the shoulder. "That is fantastic. So who did they assign as your mentor? I know there was one other applicant other than me. I just didn't know who."
Rafe pointed over his shoulder. "Mom is."
Buzz looked confused. "I didn't know your mom could be your mentor."
Rafe shook his head smirking at the dumbfounded looks on Olivia and Natalia's faces. "No, not Ma, Mom." He said rubbing Olivia's arm.
Buzz was just shocked. "Well, ok then. You couldn't ask for a better one. Olivia really cares for you and will do right by you if you listen and keep your nose clean."
Rafe nods, "Of course. She's great."
Marina came out with their food and handed the check to Olivia. Buzz snatched it back. "Nope, not today, it's on the house." He hugged Rafe again, kissing Olivia and Natalia on the cheek. "It's good to have you home. I know I'm not your mentor but if you need anything just ask."
Rafe just smiled. "Will do Buzz and thank you for applying to be my mentor. I really appreciate it."
Buzzed waved it off. He walked behind the counter, picked up a cooler and handed it to Rafe. "I made everyone a shake. There's a sugar free strawberry in there for you."
They said their thanks and goodbyes, grabbed the bags and headed home. The closer they got to home the faster Rafe's leg bounced. Natalia turned to look at him. "Calm down honey. What's wrong?"
Rafe had tears in his eyes. "I'm just so grateful to be going home and I missed everyone so much, but…" he looked down not finishing his thought.
Natalia looked at Olivia who looked worried and shrugged. She looked back to Rafe. "But what sweetheart?"
He looked up a single tear leaving his eye. "It's just I missed her so much and I haven't hugged her in so long. I'm finally coming home to our whole family. You, me, mom, Emma, and Ava. I finally have the family I always wanted. It's just a little overwhelming to finally be a part of it all. Overwhelming in a good way but still overwhelming."
Olivia and Natalia both had tears swimming in their eyes at the passion that he spoke of their family. Olivia pulled into the drive but stopped just off the road and turned to look at him. "Rafe, you've always been a part of this family son."
He just smiled. "I know but now I get to be here with you all. I'm just happy." They shared a huge teary smile. "Now, let's go mom, I need my munchkin." She laughed and finished going up the drive to park.
Olivia and Natalia had exited the car and Rafe was bent over in the back grabbing food bags when Emma came running out. "Mommy, mama, you're home. Do you need help with the bags?"
Just as she came off the porch Rafe poked his head around Olivia. "Hey munchkin come help with these bags before I eat it all."
Emma stopped dead in her tracks. "Rafe." She whispered staring at him. Not convinced he was really in front of her. When he opened his arms she snapped out of it, running as fast as her little legs would carry her. "RAFE!"
She jumped in his arms and he lifted her swinging her in a circle. "Hi baby." He whispered in her hair. He noticed her shoulders shaking and his shirt getting wet. "Hey, why are you crying?"
She looked up at him keeping her arms around his neck. "You're really here. I didn't think I was ever going to get to hug you again or that you would come home." She laid her head on his shoulder hugging him again.
Olivia and Natalia just watched the scene with tears streaming. They were so wrapped up in the kids in front of them they didn't notice the one on the porch. Ava came out just as Emma launched herself into Rafe's arms. She watched them for a moment until Emma laid her head back down. "Hey, care to share the love little brother, or are you gonna let the little jellybean hog you all night." She chuckled at the shocked looks on Oliva and Natalia's faces as they swung around to her. "Fine, I'll hug them." She said pointing to them.
Olivia snapped out of it and rushed to Ava, Natalia hot on her heals. "Ava! Oh my god baby what are you doing here?" Olivia wrapped her in a big hug.
Ava laughed, pulling out of the hug to be hugged by Natalia. "Well, Skippy over there called and told me he might be getting out today so, I took a couple of weeks off work to join the fun. Hope you don't mind."
Natalia pulled away. "Of course we don't mind, but you should have called I haven't cleaned your room and we didn't get you any dinner."
Ava waved it off. "I'm sure my room is fine Ma, and I called Buzz after Emma told me you were picking up Buzz burgers for dinner. I added my order and swore him to secrecy. I called Jane and she picked me up at the airport before she went to get Em from school. I sent her home after she dropped us off."
Rafe still had Emma in his arms but shifted her to one side and gave Ava a one armed hug pulling her close. Emma reached around her and made it a group hug.
Olivia put an arm around Natalia's waist pulling her close to whisper in her ear. "Now, we're complete."
Natalia leaned into her. Whispering back "Yes we are."
Ava pulled away from her siblings. "I don't know about you guys but I'm starving."
They all laughed, Olivia started back to the car. Rafe why don't you take Emma in and she can show you where everything is to set the table. We will bring everything in."
He nodded and they went inside. They were sitting around the table a little later and Rafe sat straight up looking worried. "Ma, did Mel get me anything from the prison. I need my tester and my insulin." He sounded slightly panicked.
Olivia put a hand on his arm. "You have insulin in the fridge and there's a new tester on the counter. We picked it up this morning. Mel said it would be a couple of days before they released your stuff to us."
Rafe sighed in relief getting up to get his tester. "Thanks mom. That scared me, I didn't want to spend my first night home in the hospital."
"No problem. We didn't want you to either." She said sitting back to finish eating.
After they finished eating and having their shakes Rafe sat back and rubbed his stomach. "That was so good." he paused getting up. "Ma where's my room? I wanted to change out of this monkey suit and get comfy."
Ava stood. "Ma, why don't you and mom show him where his room and everything is? Em and I will clean this up."
Natalia nods, still a little stunned that Ava and Emma keep calling her Ma. "Ok, let's go." Olivia and Rafe followed her up.
She pointed out the door to Ava's room right off the living room then led him upstairs. She showed him the bathroom, pointed out Emma's door and Olivia's. She showed him her room and then stopped at his door opening it. "This is your room mijo." He walked in looking around with them right behind him. "There are some bags in the closet with some clothes that Olivia picked up yesterday and some toiletries. We will go shopping later for more."
He rushed to the closet and pulled the bags out and set them on the bed. He pulled everything out and spread it out on the bed. "This stuff is great. Thanks mom." He walked over and hugged her then kissed his Ma and went back to inspect his things.
Olivia chuckled at his enthusiasm. "Why don't you put your stuff up and get a shower. Then you can come down and join us for games. I think Emma is too keyed up to sit still for a movie night." Natalia excused herself for a moment and Olivia continued. "You can go through your old stuff later and see if anything is going to still fit or if we need to get rid of it. We will go shopping Saturday for the rest of what you will need."
He nodded as Natalia reentered the room and handed him a small bag. "This is your new phone. We will have it activated tomorrow for you. I already programed all of our numbers in it for you."
He took the phone and accessories out of the bag gasping. "Oh Ma, this is too much."
She chuckled, "Tell her." She said pointing at Olivia. "She's the one that got us all new IPhones."
He looked to her shocked. She just shrugged "Hey, we all needed upgrades and I knew you liked to run and I figured this would work for both a phone and music to run with."
He walked over and pulled her in to a hug. Extremely touched by the things she had done and continued to do for him. "Thank you so much for everything. How will I ever repay you for all this? For everything you've done for me?"
She shook her head and pulled back just a bit. "You don't have to repay me for anything. I didn't do anything for you that I wouldn't have done for Ava or Emma. I told you I love you and would do anything for you."
He pulled her back in. "Thank you mom." He squeezed her one last time before letting go. "Ok. I'm going to put this stuff up and grab a quick shower. I'll be down in thirty minutes or so for game night." He kissed them both and headed to his closet to get out hangers.
Natalia and Olivia left him to it and went back out in the hall to head down stairs. Once she closed his door she pulled Olivia into a hug. "Thank you so much for him. I can't believe he is finally home."
Olivia just held on. "I know, I can't believe Ava is home as well. It's too bad we only get two weeks with her but I'll take it."
Natalia pulled back. "Yea. What was that you were talking to the judge about us going on a vacation?"
Olivia perked up. "Oh, well I figured we would go see Ava and take them to Disneyland or something but she's here so we can pick somewhere else to go. Where would you like to go?"
Natalia shook her head slightly. "I've never been anywhere so it doesn't matter to me. Ava's here so I don't care if we just stay here and hang out for a week."
Olivia thought for a moment. "Well I would like to take them somewhere so we'll talk to the kids and we will figure it out." She said excitedly pulling on her arm heading down the stairs. Natalia just shook her head and laughed at her antics knowing they were going somewhere. She just couldn't say no to the woman when it was for the kids.
Later they sat around the table playing monopoly, Emma's pick, and she was kicking their butts. Ava went bankrupt and sat back in her chair with a giggle. Rafe and Olivia had went bankrupt not long before. "We know better than to play this game with her mom. She always cleans us out."
Olivia laughed. "Yea, but it is fun to watch her in business mongrel mode." They all laughed.
Natalia was almost bankrupt as well. She looked up and noticed the time. "Oh my I didn't think it was that late. Emma let's just call you the winner. You need to take a bath and get ready for bed, you have school tomorrow."
Emma's face fell. "Ah Ma, I wanted to stay home with Rafe and Ava tomorrow." She was full on pouting.
Olivia was about to tell her she could but Natalia shook her head. "Oh no missy. You have one day left before spring break and you have a spelling test tomorrow. You are going, but I will have them pick you up from school and take you to get ice cream for your snack while your mommy and I finish up at work to get ready for our week off."
Emma perked up slightly at the offer of ice cream with them tomorrow. She got up, head down. "Ok Ma." She said as she left to go take her bath.
Ava and Rafe chuckled under their breaths and Olivia covered her mouth and turned her head to keep from laughing. Natalia shook her head at them all. "Ok you three, calm yourselves. Olivia why don't you talk to them about next week and I will help Emma with her bath. We will finalize when we get back down stairs before the movie." She got up kissed all of them on the head and left to help Emma.
Once she was out of the room they lost it. Rafe laughed so hard he almost fell out of his chair. "Oh my god that kid is priceless. She's a worker."
Ava calmed a little. "Yea mom was about to cave but Ma has her number." They laughed some more. After a moment they calmed back down. "Now, what was Ma saying about next week?"
Olivia sat up excited in her seat. "Well the original plan was to come to California to see you for the week and go to Disneyland but you're here so we need to pick another vacation spot."
Ava sat forward seeing the excited look on Rafe's face when she said Disneyland. "We can still go to Disneyland. I don't mind. We can park hop for a week it will be so much fun." Rafe nodded excitedly.
Olivia chuckled. "Ok that sounds good. Why don't you guys get online tomorrow and see if you can find any packages. We can leave Sunday. Saturday we need to go shopping for Rafe's clothes so we can't leave then."
Ava looked at Rafe then back to her mom. "I can take Rafe and help him shop tomorrow if you want so we can leave Saturday."
Olivia just shook her head. "You guys can go shopping if you want but we will need time to pack on Saturday as well. If I try and leave Saturday Natalia will kill me. Sunday is fine to leave."
Olivia cleaned up the game while Ava and Rafe got laptop out and started their search. Natalia came back down and found Olivia sitting on the couch watching TV with Ava and Rafe stuffed into one of the arm chairs together with the computer.
She sat next to Olivia bumping shoulders. "What are they up to?" The watched the two, heads together thick as thieves.
Olivia chuckled. "They are looking for vacation packages. They decided they still wanted to go to Disneyland."
Natalia leaned back and sighed in contentment. "When are we leaving?"
Olivia leaned against her. "Sunday. I figured that would give us time to clear up work tomorrow and pack on Saturday. Ava is taking Rafe shopping tomorrow so we can just pack and relax Saturday. I gave Ava my credit card for tomorrow, I hope that's ok."
"I can buy him clothes too you know." Natalia whispered getting a little upset.
Olivia sat up a bit to look at her. "Hey, I know you can. I just really want to do this for him. If you really don't like it I won't. I just… I just want to help him."
Natalia deflated. "You have done so much for him already." Olivia just looked down defeated. Natalia sighed. She couldn't stand to see that look on her face. "Ok, if it means that much to you, I will let you do this. But you have to slow down. He needs to work for some things too."
Olivia perked back up. "He will, I just want him to have a good starting point. After vacation I will stop spoiling as much, promise."
Natalia laughed as Emma came down stairs. Ava and Rafe put up the computer and everyone settle to watch a movie. After it was over Rafe carried Emma up and Ava read her a story. All the kids went to bed and Olivia and Natalia went out on the porch to have their nightly cocoa.
They were sitting on the swing and Olivia turned to Natalia. "Have you noticed how all the kids are calling us mom and Ma now?"
Natalia just took a sip. "Yes I did. Does it bother you Rafe calling you mom?" She asked worried he had overstepped some boundary.
Olivia just looked shocked. "Absolutely not. I love it. I told you I think of him as a son. Does it bother you with the girls?"
Natalia shook her head. "No. I love it too. I love those girls."
Olivia looked a little apprehensive. "You know people are going to start talking about us when they hear the kids calling us both mom and ma."
Natalia nods. "Yea, I figured, but I don't care. Let them talk and say what they want, I don't care."
Olivia looked shocked remembering Natalia's reaction to Emma's presentation. "Since when? Two months ago you wanted to make sure no one thought things about us."
Natalia sighed. "That was before I figured out what was more important to me. I had to choose between what people thought, or what was best for our family? As long as our kids are happy, I don't care what people say about me or about us." She looked into Olivia's eyes. "You said before that you didn't care either. Have you changed your opinion?"
Olivia took her hand. "No I haven't. That's what I want to, just for the kids to be happy."
Natalia smiled and laid her head on Olivia's shoulder. "Good,"
They sat there for a while more until they were out of cocoa and starting to get cold and headed up to bed. The next few days would be a whirlwind trying to prepare for their trip but they didn't care. All three kids were home, happy and they were going on vacation. Life was pretty good.
