Olivia spun around her room wildly looking for the second shoe she planned on wearing that day. She had overslept and was running more than just a little late.
"Mommy! I can't find any of my books!" Emma called from her room. Olivia finally found her shoe wedged in the corner of her closet and slipped it on her foot before running to her daughter's room.
"Where did you put them?"
"I don't know," Emma shrugged. "I looked in all the boxes, I think."
"We already missed your bus, Emma. Where do you last remember seeing them?"
"I don't know," Emma shrugged again.
Olivia let out an impatient sigh and began looking around Emma's room with her.
"You guys ready yet? We gotta go!" Natalia called from downstairs. "By the way, your books are down here, Emma."
Emma and Olivia stopped turning boxes upside down and looked at each other in surprise.
"How did she know we were looking for my books?" Emma asked as they moved quickly down the stairs.
"It's simple, my dear. She's a super hero!" She picked Emma up with a flourish and jogged toward the kitchen. Emma was giggling uncontrollably by the time they crashed into an unprepared Natalia.
"Calm down you two, or we'll never get to school on time."
"You don't have to come too. I can take her," Olivia said, busying herself with straightening Emma's coat.
"Well, that would be silly. We both have similar schedules today so we might as well go into work together."
"Really, it's fine. I mean, I might have to work late, so having both cars might be good," Olivia said, scratching her neck.
"Well, if that happens I'll just take the bus. You know I'm good with that."
"What is that?" Olivia said, tugging at something in her collar and trying to see behind her neck. Natalia stood on her toes and looked into Olivia's collar.
"You still have the tag in there. Here, let me get the scissors."
"Guys! Hurry!" Emma said.
"Go get in the car, sweetie, we'll be right out," Natalia said as she snipped the offending tag from Olivia's collar.
"Okay!" Emma called out and bounded out the door.
Natalia turned Olivia around and straightened her collar. "You don't want me to go with you to Emma's school, do you?" she said, avoiding eye contact by stroking invisible lint from Olivia's shoulders.
"That's not it," Olivia sighed. "People will start to talk if we show up together all the time."
"So? Why are you so worried about what other people think?"
"You don't know how hard it can be to have people looking at you all the time, whispering behind your back."
"I don't? Do you really think that Olivia? Really? Do you have no memory of the fact that I was once a 16 year old single mother – part of a very Catholic family who lived in a very Catholic neighborhood? I know whispering. It's all I heard for years."
"Then why? Why would you want Emma to go through all of that?"
"Everyone gets talked about for something, Olivia. It's something we all have to learn to live with. Plus, in this day and age having two mommies is probably going to be the least of Emma's life worries. It's not 1950 anymore, Olivia."
"I don't know…"
"Olivia! In about 30 seconds we're going to go from being late to embarrassingly late. We have to go. Now. We will talk about this later."
"Fine." Olivia picked up the car keys and tossed them at Natalia who caught them easily. "Shotgun," she said with a quirk of an eyebrow and headed out the door. Natalia shook her head, slightly annoyed by how cute Olivia could be even when they were arguing.
Natalia and Olivia watched from the car as Emma ran up to a group of her classmates outside the school. Luckily, traffic had been extremely light and they ended up getting to school with a few minutes to spare.
"Glad we got her here on time. I used to hate being late to school," Olivia said absently as she watched a group of girls gather around Emma.
"Hey," Natalia said and ran an arm down Olivia's arm to get her attention. Green eyes turned toward her. "I want you to look at your daughter for a minute, and when you look at her tell me what you see."
Olivia looked back over. "Well… she looks like my little girl. Smart, funny… looks like she has a lot of friends. Her hair could probably be brushed a little better. Do her socks match?" She squinted out the window. "What am I supposed to be seeing here?"
"When I look at her I see a strong, smart little girl who is definitely your little girl. She is so much like you, Olivia."
"I don't know if that's such a good thing," Olivia scoffed.
"It is. It is because you're strong and you stand up for yourself. You're Olivia Freakin' Spencer and one of the reasons I love you is because you're one of the strongest people I've ever known. Life has put you through a lot of heartache and pain and you've used all of that to build an inner strength that I admire. You've been through things that would have turned an average person dark and cold, but you still seem to have endless amounts of goodness inside you."
"Tell that to all the people who have called me a manipulative bitch."
Natalia sighed. "Olivia, I'm starting to get tired of batting away all of your excuses. I'm not going to give up, but you're trying my patience."
Natalia's phone rang and she glanced down at it. "Damnit," she said under her breath. "It's Frank."
"You should get it," Olivia grumbled and slid down in her seat.
Natalia turned the phone off. "I'll talk to him later."
"Putting off the big talk you were going to have with him?"
Natalia clenched her teeth in frustration. "No Olivia, I just happen to think this is more important than Frank. You're the most important thing in my life, and I'll be damned if we don't work through this."
"Your language is getting a little rough there, sailor," Olivia muttered, staring out the windshield.
"Olivia. Sit up. Sit up and look at me." As Olivia reluctantly began to sit up, Natalia reached over and grabbed the lapels of her coat until a somewhat stunned Olivia was face to face with her. "Listen to me, and listen to me good, Olivia Spencer. I choose you. I had a choice of who I wanted and what I wanted, and I chose you. I chose a life with you." She poked at Olivia's chest with her index finger. "No matter how much you argue with me, no matter how many excuses you make, I will still be here in the end. We will do this, and we will get through it together. We can sit here and argue all day if you want, but I'd rather we get on with our lives.
A stunned Olivia stared at her. The three words, "I choose you," spun in her head. They were words she'd be waiting to hear all her life. If she'd been standing she was sure she would have lost her footing and fallen over. They looked at each other for several silent long moments - a stubborn and aggravated Natalia staring challengingly at a trembling and wordless Olivia.
Suddenly, a knock came painfully loud from the passenger side window. Olivia whipped her head around in surprise and was greeted by a waving hand and brightly smiling face.
"Open the window. It's Mrs. Carter, Emma's math and science teacher," Natalia said when Olivia didn't move for several seconds. Olivia did as she was told.
"Hello, ladies! I was just talking to Emma when she pointed out her moms were still sitting over here in the car. I thought I'd come over and say hello."
"Hello, Mrs. Carter," Natalia said from the driver side and waved.
"It's so good to see you again, Ms. Rivera! And I'm so happy I finally get to meet you, Ms. Spencer. Your daughter is such a pleasure to have as a student."
"It's very nice to meet you. I'm sorry we've never had the chance to meet," Olivia said and smiled as well as she could.
"Oh don't worry, dear. Sometimes I never meet the children's parents. I don't spend a lot of time involved with all of the big plays and things like that. I'm afraid I'm starting to get too old to keep up with the little ones anymore," she smiled a little sheepishly and ran a hand through her graying hair. She looked reflective for a moment and leaned toward the window a bit more. "I did actually want to talk to the two of you about something I heard Emma say yesterday."
Olivia raised her eyebrows and tried to look curious, but for some reason the woman's new tone made her heart sink in her chest.
"What's that?" Natalia asked, leaning on Olivia's shoulder to get a better view of the teacher through the window.
"Well, Emma has been talking excitedly about your wedding lately, Ms. Rivera, and she came in yesterday talking about how it didn't happen. Which is fine and none of my business… it's just that when I told her I was sorry and asked if she was okay with everything…" The teacher looked uncomfortable. "Well, she said she was happy because it meant that her mommy would get to marry you instead."
Olivia glanced over at Natalia, her eyes wide. "I don't know where she'd get that!" she said to the teacher with a nervous laugh.
The teacher splayed her hands out in front of her. "Now, I don't mean this to come across as anything negative. We pride ourselves in diversity here and what your relationship entails is neither here nor there. I just figured no matter what was going on, she might have her story a little wrong."
"You're right there! I mean, it wouldn't even be legal for…" Olivia said, not exactly sure which words were spilling helplessly from her mouth. "I mean, that would be a little fast and… I mean, we're not even... yet, anyway. And um, what I'm trying to say is…"
Natalia squeezed Olivia's arm as tightly as she could to make her shut the hell up. "What she's trying to say is thank you, Mrs. Carter. We weren't aware Emma had that idea in her head. Olivia and I are definitely not at marriage stage… yet." She smiled, reached down, and entwined her fingers with Olivia's. "Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"
Mrs. Carter's face lit up with a smile when she saw Natalia take Olivia's hand. "Oh, I'm so happy that you two…" She laughed a little and cut herself off. "Oh dear, don't mind me, I'm just an old lady who worries about her students a little too much." She began straightening herself to say her goodbyes, but leaned down a moment more and said, "Emma is a wonderful little girl. She's confident and smart, and she's also a natural leader. I don't say that much about my students because they're so young, but little Miss Spencer is something else. You two should be very proud of your daughter."
"We are," Natalia said. "And thank you, Mrs. Carter. I think we very much needed to hear that."
Olivia shook the shocked expression from her face. "Thank you… so much," she said in a quiet voice.
Mrs. Carter reached in the window and gave Olivia's shoulder a small squeeze. "My pleasure, dear. I hope to see you both soon," she said and walked back toward the school.
Natalia tilted her head and watched Olivia, waiting for her to say something.
"I can't believe that just happened," she finally said.
"It's 2009, Olivia. You shouldn't be so surprised."
"The way you took my hand…" Olivia said with wonder and dropped her eyes to look at their entwined fingers.
"It's time we start telling people. This… us is here to stay."
"I love you," Olivia said with a trembling voice and reached a hand to Natalia's face.
Natalia leaned into the hand, reveling in the intimate touch. "I love you too… so very much." To her surprise, Olivia leaned in and pressed their lips softly together. The kiss was short and fleeting, but left both women breathless. "I thought we were waiting," Natalia said softly, running a thumb lightly across the outside corner of Olivia's eyebrow. She knew she'd never get enough of looking at the tiny details of Olivia's eyes.
"I couldn't." Olivia said, her voice thick with emotion. "I just…"
"I know," Natalia said and leaned up to kiss Olivia's forehead. "I know."
"We should get to work," Olivia said shakily and leaned back into her seat.
"Yeah. I guess we should," Natalia said. She started up the car and began wondering how the hell she was going to get any work done that day.
Natalia stood in the doorway of Olivia's office, watching her for a brief moment before she moved to get her attention. She watched Olivia nibble the tip of her pen as she read the document before her. Images of Olivia nibbling other things like straws and plastic spoons suddenly invaded her mind. She swallowed hard and forced the images away. The idea Olivia might have some sort of oral fixation was something she didn't even want to begin thinking about today.
"Olivia!" she said a little too brightly and walked into the room.
"Hey you," Olivia said in a voice that sounded as close to purring as a human being could come. Natalia felt her knees give out a little. She grabbed a chair and sat down.
"I was just…" She swallowed hard. "Just coming here to tell you something."
Olivia raised an eyebrow. "About?"
"Oh. I umm," she mentally shook her head. No more Olivia sexy thoughts, Natalia. They'd been filling her every thought throughout the entire day… ever since that much too short kiss.Mmmm that kiss. Look at her lips… so nice… so just right there on the other side of this desk… No! No. Okay. "Okay," she said out loud, gathering herself. Olivia stared at her with growing confusion. "I called Frank."
"Oh?" Olivia asked. She gathered a bunch of papers together on her desk and tapped them into a neat pile.
"Yes. We're going to have dinner this evening."
"Ah, that's good," Olivia said, not looking up.
"What's wrong? We talked about this." Natalia leaned forward and tilted her head down, trying to catch eye contact with Olivia.
Olivia looked up reluctantly. "You're telling him? About us?" she said, a hint of disbelief in her voice.
"Of course," Natalia frowned and moved around the desk. She leaned down and took Olivia's hand. "Hey, come here," she said, guiding Olivia to her feet. Once Olivia was standing she pulled her into a loose embrace. "I've been dying to do this all day," she whispered and leaned forward until their lips met. Natalia moaned softly as Olivia wrapped her arms around her and their bodies pressed together. She lost herself in the feel of Olivia's amazing lips moving slowly against hers. After long moments of slow, tentative kissing, Olivia took control of the kiss and deepened it until their tongues had intimate knowledge of each other. Natalia had never felt so completely consumed by a kiss before. If she was asked to put words to the way Olivia kissed it would be: with controlling passion. She felt overpowered by the amount of emotion Olivia seemed to be able to pour into a kiss. The only thing she could do was follow Olivia's lead and go along for the breathless ride. Olivia's hands ran slowly up and down the length of her back. The hands pressed into her in an almost tremulous way – a way that made her think Olivia was holding herself back from something. She broke the kiss breathlessly when she started to feel the pressure of Olivia's nails run trails down her back. It was too much… too much.
"Olivia," she said, pulling back, trying to focus and breathe again. "That was…" She blinked.
"Oh my God," Olivia said with wonder in her voice.
"That was amazing," Natalia said softly, reaching up and running two fingers over Olivia's bottom lip.
"Oh my God," Olivia said again, unable to think of other words. Natalia laughed and pulled her into a hug. "Oh my God!" she said a third time and started laughing. She pulled back from the hug and looked at Natalia with a big smile on her face. Natalia smiled back. "This is going to be fun, isn't it?" she said with a quick wiggle of her eyebrows.
"Olivia!" Natalia said with a laugh. Olivia smiled at her innocently and shrugged. Natalia leaned in for a quick kiss and ran her tongue lightly across Olivia's bottom lip. "I can't believe you said that," she said softly after pulling away. "And I can't wait to find out."
Olivia tilted her head and laughed. "I'm going to have to get used to this side of you."
Natalia noticed the clock on the wall behind Olivia. "Oh no," she said. "I have to go."
"Frank?"
"Yeah. After that… there's no way I should be dragging this on anymore."
Olivia nodded. "I'm so sorry you have to do this. I know it hurts you to hurt Frank."
"I can't believe all this happened the way it did." She shook her head. "It's going to take me a long time to forgive myself. I mean, about doing this all to Frank… and his family, but I know it's the only way things can be."
"I'm sorry," Olivia said again.
Natalia shook her head. "No, stop that. You mean everything to me." She pushed a piece of hair from Olivia's face. "I'm just glad it didn't go any further." She sighed and reluctantly moved out of Olivia's embrace. "I better go."
"See you in a few hours?" Olivia asked.
Natalia nodded. "I can't wait," she said with a wink and disappeared out the door.