Emma sat huddled in the waiting room. They'd been out shopping together, just the two sisters when Ava got the call that Olivia, who'd supposedly stayed at the apartment had called 911 and gotten taken to the hospital. Her heart.

They hadn't been the first call though, Natalia was still Olivia's emergency contact and she had been the one to give them Ava's cell number. Now the two sisters sat there and waited, for Natalia, or word from the doctors, or... anything. It had been hours upon hours, and they knew that she was still alive, but other than that... they had no info.

And then it was like a wind blew in. Natalia arrived. She hugged Emma, who ran over to her and in the same breath that she was being motherly to Emma, she also demanded to see Olivia. Ava had never seen Natalia Rivera like that. She watched as Natalia knelt down and talked to Emma for a moment. After the words, Emma didn't seem happy, but she also didn't fight against whatever the woman said. Just walked back over to Ava and sat down.

Emma told her big sister what was going on, "Natalia's going to see Mommy first."

Ava watched Natalia stride down the hall towards where she assumed Olivia's room was. "Well, we'll just wait here until she comes back out, okay?" Somehow, Ava got the feeling that her mother was about to get yelled at.

Emma nodded.

"Are you a daft, suicidal idiot Olivia Spencer?"

Olivia groaned, she'd had a nice buzz going from whatever they'd put her under with that Natalia ruined. "Huh?"

"They said that you were running up and down the hills around here. We're in San Francisco Olivia."

Olivia tried to push herself up in bed, but it didn't work. Finally she just flopped back onto the sheets. "I'm in San Francisco. You're suppose to be with your son, your family in Springfield. You're suppose..." She trailed off.

Natalia was pissed, "Is that what this is about. Not being invited to DINNER last night? C'mon Olivia."

"NO." She modulated her voice, "No, no, I didn't want you to come cross country. I'm... I'm not, this isn't a scheme to, whatever. This isn't. Go back Natalia, be happy, make Rafe happy. Hell..." She sighed, "Make the whole damn town happy."

Natalia crossed her arms over her chest, "And what about Emma? Hmmm... you're going to rip her from everything she knows, her friends, school, her family."

Olivia mumbled something, but too quietly for Natalia to hear her. "What?"

Olivia closed her eyes, a tear ran down her cheek. "I already did. All I had to do was keep my big mouth shut. Hours, just hours. She'd be happy, you'd be happy, Frank, Rafe, they'd be happy." Olivia shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, "But I was a selfish bitch, as usual." She paused. "Take her."

Natalia blinked, not comprehending, "What?"

Olivia slowly opened her eyes, and Natalia had to bite off a gasp. The light had gone out in Olivia's eyes. "Take her back. I'll sign over custody to you, or Phillip, or... whoever you think I should. It doesn't matter."

She closed her eyes again, but they flew open as Natalia gave her one shake, then another and another. "What're you..."

"What's wrong with you Olivia. Phillip? PHILLIP Spaulding? Of course it matters, you love her, I've seen you fight for her, over and over. You would do anything for her."

Olivia eyes drifted closed again, "I'll hurt her. In the end. It doesn't matter if I try, or if I don't try, I hurt everyone I love."

"Liv, you don't..."

Olivia gritted her teeth as she stared into and past Natalia. "I killed my mother. I tried to kill my own daughter. I've ripped apart everyone from the Coopers to the Spaulding family. Hell, I destroyed one of the few good... great loves in the world, Reva and Josh. I'll hurt Emma too."

In a voice that Olivia barely heard Natalia spoke, "You haven't hurt me Olivia."

Olivia swallowed and focused on Natalia again, "You have the most kind and loving eyes, did you know that? I mean, you're drop dead gorgeous aside from that, but your eyes. That's what I noticed first. Even when you hated my guts, your eyes, they had none of the hate and anger in them, no matter what."

"Olivia..."

But she wasn't done, "I've hurt you most of all. Taken you away from everything you know, tried to impose... me... on you. I'll swear on anything you chose, bible, Moby Dick, I didn't do it on purpose. This was supposed to be different..." She trailed off, "It's second nature to me, I... I flirt, I entice. I... people fall..." She looked up at Natalia. "I didn't want to do it to you, I didn't mean it, I swear. Please, forgive me..." Tears streamed down Olivia's cheeks as she lost the ability to speak words anymore, not to mention she didn't know what else to say, how else to fix what she'd done.

Natalia frowned. She didn't know what to do, thoughts were swirling around in her head, colliding with one another, combining and splitting apart, and then it was like lightning struck, and they all lined up in an order that made sense. She glanced out the door and before Olivia could object she was up on the bed. She propped herself up on one arm, staring down at the older woman. After a moment of stunned silence she ran a hand along Olivia's cheek and down to her neck. She could feel Olivia's pulse point jump in response. Then she leaned down.

The kiss wasn't much, not even as heated as the one oh so many months ago when she was so naive about Emma's 'my two mommies' project. But it wasn't chaste either.

Natalia propped herself up again and brushed a lock of hair from Olivia's forehead. "You didn't make me love you Olivia. I promise. Okay? And you haven't hurt me either, the only thing you can do that would hurt me is leave and never come back. I love you Olivia. I love you because you make me laugh, because you constantly challenge me, and constantly surprise me, and because, as much as you don't think it's true, every one of the men you married and even some of those you didn't, you loved each one of them with all your heart too." She put her hand above said muscle and felt it skip a beat and then settle back into a regular rhythm. "I don't love you because of Gus' heart, or because you got my money back for me, or because you got Rafe moved to a safer jail or gave me a job. I would love you if you'd killed half the town of Springfield and taken me hostage." Natalia almost cried as a twinkle, the beginning of a laugh that Olivia wasn't quite ready to voice yet, appeared in Olivia's eyes. "Of course, do they even give conjugal visits for same-sex couples, I'd have to look into that."

This got Olivia to smile a bit.

"We both have issues, and... I didn't think it was possible, but yours dwarf mine. And we'll get through them. Starting now. Together. We'll go home to Springfield, you'll come back to the farmhouse. We'll let Rafe, Emma, Ava... the rest of Springfield understand who we are to one another, and then we'll face the world, together. Okay?"

Olivia put her hand over Natalia's which was still on the older woman's chest. "Together."

Natalia smiled, "Now, uh... if you're not about to croak, you should probably tell your daughters or they may spontaneously combust in the waiting room.

Olivia pushed herself up a bit and kissed the tip of Natalia's nose. "Our daughters."

Fin ~ May 27th, 2009