Natalia threw open the door with a loud bang and sprinted toward the porch stairs. She'd forgotten about the storm, forgotten about the ice, and lost her footing almost instantly.
She fell into Olivia's arms.
"Whoa! Where's the fire?" Olivia asked, attempting to keep Natalia's body upright.
"I…" Natalia looked at her with wide, panicked eyes. "That noise… I thought something… I thought you were…"
Olivia wrapped an arm securely around Natalia's waist and pointed with her other toward the side of the farmhouse. "It was that dying tree we needed to do something about. Looks like the weight of the ice brought it down against the side of the house."
Natalia looked at the tree with a blank expression. She turned toward Olivia and shoved her shoulder. "Don't do that to me. I heard that noise and could only think something happened to you." She gave Olivia a menacing look before moving forward and wrapping her arms tightly around her shoulders.
Olivia laughed a little and raised a hand to caress the back of Natalia's head. "I'm sorry for being outside when a tree fell on the house. Can you ever forgive me?"
"This time," Natalia said with a reluctant smile and backed away from the hug. "Did the tree do any damage? Aren't there power lines over there?"
"Yeah… I think so." Olivia crunched out into the grass to get a better look. "Damn, I think they…"
"Mommy!" Emma appeared in the doorway. "The lights stopped working."
"Crap," Olivia said under her breath. "Well isn't this just freakin' great?"
"Okay," Natalia said, taking control of the situation. "Emma, go inside so the warm air doesn't get out, please. We'll be right in."
"This sucks," Olivia said, walking toward Natalia who had a hand outstretched for her to take.
"We don't have any firewood left either. It's going to get cold tonight."
"Whatever happened to global warming? This is more like global cooling." Natalia laughed and nodded in agreement. "Oh well, I guess we'll have to think of other ways to stay warm." They walked carefully up icy steps together.
"I might have a few ideas," Natalia said with a smirk.
Olivia tilted her head back and laughed. "I bet you do, tiger."
Buzz tapped his fingers on the bar rapidly, trying to think of what he needed to do next. Frank had not only taken his truck keys, but he'd taken his own car keys which left Buzz with no way of going after his son. Buzz felt his pockets and sighed. "Left my phone in the truck," he muttered.
He walked behind the bar and reached for his book of contacts and grabbed the receiver off the bar phone. He and rifled through the book until he found the name Natalia Rivera and began dialing.
Natalia was pulling a large green blanket from the hall closet when she heard her phone ringing. She gathered the blanket into her arms and ran into her room to grab her phone.
"Hello?"
"Natalia! Is everything okay out there?" came Buzz Cooper's loud, emotional voice.
"Umm, I…" Natalia frowned and tried to imagine why Buzz would be calling her. "We had a little accident out here with a tree, but I think we'll be fine if we just..."
"What do you mean, accident? What tree?" Buzz interrupted loudly, envisioning Frank wildly driving out to the farmhouse and wrapping his truck around a tree.
"It fell on the house and knocked some power lines out." She heard a loud groan of relief come through the phone. "Is everything okay, Buzz? You sound upset."
"I'm down at Company right now. I don't have a car and Frank just left. I'm so worried because…"
The phone went dead.
Natalia looked down at the phone and frowned. She pushed a few buttons and dialed the last incoming number. No answer.
"What's wrong?" came Olivia's voice from her door.
"Buzz just called and it was the strangest thing. He sounded so upset, almost frantic… he asked me if we were alright." Olivia raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Then, he started talking about how he was at Company without a car. He said he was worried about something, but before he told me what about, the phone died."
Olivia tilted her head. "That's really strange. Did you try calling back?"
She nodded. "I bet the phone lines are down."
"Damn ice. Why do you think he would he call you?"
Natalia's mind flashbacked to the last time she'd seen Frank. She felt a stab of fear hit her. She wasn't sure why, but she suddenly knew Frank was behind the worry and panic in Buzz's voice. "Um, I'm not sure. Maybe he needed something?"
Olivia shook her head a little. "I don't know. Doesn't really sound like Buzz. Did you try his cell?"
"No… I don't…" She glanced down at her phone and starting looking through contacts. "I don't think I have it."
"I do. I'll go try it on my cell."
Frank was driving recklessly. On a normal day he would have been going at a crawl, but the roads were little more than a sheet of snowy ice.
"Olivia Spencer," he muttered under his breath every few minutes like a holy mantra filled with hate and venom. He hit the brakes a little too hard and the truck swerved for the hundredth time that morning. He gripped the steering wheel and pressed his hands against it with so much force he was surprised it hadn't started bending. The cut he'd gotten from the glass the glass the night before made the palm of his left hand burn with pain, but he didn't care. He almost welcomed the pain as he pushed his hands onto the wheel. It was the only outlet for his rage.
Suddenly, he heard the chime of a cell phone. Buzz had tried to reach him repeatedly and he was getting tired of hearing the ringing. Deciding to turn the phone off, he took his eyes off the road and reached over to the far side of the passenger seat to where he had thrown it earlier. Phone in hand, he looked back to the road and made a sharp correction. The truck skidded for a moment but stayed steady. He flipped it open and noticed the caller ID.
Olivia Spencer.
The sight of that name made his blood instantly boil with rage. He stared at the phone for a long moment, gripping it tightly and painfully into the palm of his hand. Suddenly, he hurled it against the windshield, lost his grip on the steering wheel, and let loose a deep, guttural yell as the truck ran off the road.
"There's no answer," Olivia said as she ended the call.
"I need to go see if he's okay," Natalia said and moved toward the kitchen.
"Ohhhh no," Olivia said, grabbing her arm. "You can't drive in weather like this."
Natalia jerked her arm back and Olivia instantly looked apologetic. "I can do what I want, Olivia," she said in a fierce voice.
"Of course. I know. It's just… Let me… I'll go and you can stay here with Emma."
"No, you can't drive in this kind of weather. I'm going."
"What? You just…" Olivia gave her an exaggerated look of confusion. "I can do what I want too, you know!"
Natalia raised a finger in the air and pointed it at Olivia, "You will do nothing of the sort. I know how to drive in this kind of weather. I'm from Chicago and you… I don't know… you probably spent half your adult life being driven around."
Olivia narrowed her eyes and raised her own finger. "I can drive just fine and you took buses in Chicago."
"I had cars! Do you really think…" Natalia stopped herself. "Why are we arguing about this?"
"Because!" Olivia raised her hands in the air to punctuate the word. "The roads are terrible and I would die if anything happened to you. So if you're so damn eager to see what's going on at Company I'll go there and write you a full report. I'll create some spreadsheets and feasibility reports. How about that?"
"Calm down right now, Olivia," Natalia said with a harsh tone in her voice. "You'll put a strain on your heart."
"I am calm!" Olivia said, her voice rising an octave signaling how not calm she was.
"Okay. Well then, since you're calm, you can go upstairs and check on Emma while I get my coat and go," Natalia replied. She turned her back and walked away.
"Natalia!"
"Listen, Olivia, I'm going. I need to go check on Buzz and see if everything's okay with him," she said, knowing Olivia was hot on her heels as she passed into the kitchen.
"Why?" Olivia circled around her and backed her against the counter next to the stove. "I don't want to argue like this, but I think I'm confused. What's so important at Company that you need to go right now? You're acting like you think Buzz is in some sort of danger." Natalia stared her down, but didn't respond. Olivia raised her eyebrows and took Natalia's hands. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm missing something here, and I'm sorry I'm upset, but I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." She shook her head and a sad look filled her eyes. "I just don't know."
Natalia sighed and leaned down to press a little kiss on Olivia's knuckles. "No, I'm sorry. I should have told you. When I talked with Frank, he… didn't take things very well."
Olivia shook her head in confusion. "How so?"
"Well, he was understandably upset. But… it seemed a little extreme for him. Out of character. I don't know how to describe it."
"What? Did he get angry?"
"A little." Natalia watched a dark cloud begin settling over Olivia's features. Inwardly, she cringed. She loved this protective side of Olivia, but now wasn't the time for it. She needed to fix this herself. "What I mean… he seemed hurt just like anyone would be. I tried to explain things to him, but he didn't want to hear it. He told me to leave, and I did… but there was a lot left unsaid."
Olivia ran her eyes over Natalia's face. There was something in her eyes that said she wasn't quite telling the truth. "Did you tell him about us?"
Natalia shook her head and looked down. "It's not because I didn't want to, or because I'm ashamed. He seemed so upset… and you know I love you with every piece of my heart, but it still so hard to do this to him."
"And you think driving off to talk to him in an ice storm is the best way to handle things?"
"I'm worried about him. He seemed almost like a different person after I told him… it was like I saw a light go out in his eyes. I couldn't live with myself if he tried to hurt himself over this."
Olivia sighed. "I guess I can understand that. I just wish you'd let me…"
Natalia placed a finger on her lips. "No. This is my problem. I'll be fine to drive and I have my cell if anything goes wrong. I'll drive too slowly for anything to happen, okay?"
Olivia nodded and kissed the finger that covered her lips. "You will call me when you get there," she said firmly.
"I promise."
Philip Spaulding was driving a Hummer H2 swiftly down the streets of Springfield and humming to himself. He loved driving when conditions were hazardous. It got his blood flowing to know danger was only a flick of the wrist away.
He tilted his head in interest when he noticed a large black truck that looked as if it recently ran off the road. He slowed his vehicle as he neared and came to a halt when he saw a man emerging from the driver side door.
"Detective Cooper?" he asked after hopping down from the Hummer and catching sight of the man limping toward him.
"Philip Spaulding," Frank said through a rough cough. He held his arm to his body and limped slowly through the snow.
"Fancy meeting you here," Philip said with a small smirk. Something about seeing the inept police officer with a bloody nose and sagging right arm made a voice in his head snicker evilly. He inwardly scolded himself. There will be no more of that, Philip. "Are you alright?" he asked with a smile.
"I… don't know what happened… the ice," Frank said. His foot slid on the ice and he fell to a knee before recovering and staggering again toward Philip.
Philip tilted his head and watched the staggering detective. "Do you need to go to the hospital, Detective Cooper? I would be pleased to drive you."
"No," Frank said, finally making his way to the street. "I was on my way to see Natalia."
Philip raised an eyebrow. "Why? Is there something wrong at the Rivera farmhouse?"
"Yes… no… I needed to speak with her."
Philip looked at Frank for a long moment. He'd seen that look before… in the mirror. "Why don't I give you a ride back home, Frank? I won't drive you to the farmhouse, if that's what you're asking."
"No. I need to see Natalia," he said, wide eyes staring at Philip. "I could confiscate your car." He staggered. "I'm a police officer." He pointed toward the keys in Philips hand.
Philip laughed and snapped his keys deep into the palm of his hand. "Frank Cooper. I'm offering to drive you anywhere but Natalia Rivera's farmhouse. You can either accept or decline this offer."
"Take me to Company," Frank said.
Philip nodded and gestured for Frank to climb into his car.