Chapter Forty Nine – Spilling Over

"Will Kinsey be okay?" Olivia asked softly from the passenger seat of Ben's car.

As they'd been heading toward the door Olivia had been taken down by a seizure. Suvi had given warning, but warning did little to alleviate the fear for someone witnessing a seizure for the first time. It hadn't helped that it had been a particularly bad one. She'd wound up vomiting and was slightly disoriented when she'd woken. Even through all of that she'd caught sight of Kinsey's white face. The episode had obviously terrified Ben's niece.

Personally Ben was far more concerned about Olivia than Kinsey. While her face wasn't as deathly white as Kinsey's had been it was still really pale. Ben suspected she could very well be fighting off a headache too. If Suvi had appeared worried Ben would have been even more concerned. As it was however, Suvi was as content as could be. His head was resting on the middle console where he could soak in the blowing warm air.

"She'll be fine. She's a strong kid, and Ris will talk to her."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure, Liv. Try to relax. You still don't look good."

He glanced sidelong at her for a brief moment. She still had her head pressed back against the headrest like she couldn't hold it up herself or that doing so would be painful.

"I'll be fine," she assured as she rested her hand on Suvi's head to pet him.

"I know you will, but I don't want you pushing yourself when you don't need to."

Olivia obeyed and fell silent, though it only lasted for a little while. They'd barely gotten another two miles down the road before she spoke again.

"Kinsey is sure a chatterbox once she gets going."

"So are you today."

"Sorry," she mumbled. "It's distracting."

"Distracting?"

"From the headache."

Of course from a headache. He'd been confident that she had one, but she hadn't said a word about it and he hadn't wanted to press her.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

She shrugged though it was the smallest motion that could potentially count as one. Any more movement than what she'd done would have increased the level of pain radiating through her skull.

"Because there's nothing you could do about it anyway."

That was true, but he still didn't like the fact that she was hurting and hadn't told him. Not that he hadn't guessed as much, but still… It would have been nice to know so he could have at least supported her and pretended that he could do something.

"You're cursed when it comes to my family, you know that? Every time you meet them someone ends up in argument, and we really don't argue that much."

If talking distracted her from her headache and that's what she wanted, then he was more than happy to oblige her.

"It was a minor tiff, Ben. Don't worry about it."

"A minor tiff that's been going on for years," he laughed.

"She did seem rather heated about it."

"Kinsey's had a thing for New York City for a long time. Clarissa's had an even bigger thing against New York for an even longer amount of time."

"Really?"

"Yeah. As you saw, it's a major point of contention between them."

Olivia wasn't sure how she could have missed it. The cause of the argument stood out like a tiger would in a group of kittens. She understood Kinsey's desire to visit NYC. It was the same draw that brought hundreds of tourists to the city every year. Understanding why Clarissa hated the city was a little bit harder.

"What does she have against New York?"

"The muggers, psychos, and kidnappers that are apparently around every corner," Ben answered.

It was clear from his tone of voice that he didn't agree with his sister's assessment of the city. Olivia didn't really agree either. She knew full well how dangerous the city could be, but the fact of the matter was there were dangers everywhere. New York City didn't hold exclusivity on crime or violence. There was no reason to fear simply stepping outside. For the most part the city was safe, especially when people used common sense, but things did happen.

"I didn't really peg her as overprotective."

"She isn't except when New York is involved. I haven't quite figured out if she honestly believes that it's dangerous or if it's more of an excuse."

"I'm sure it doesn't help that there are always bad things reported in the news."

"Nope," Ben confirmed. "And Clarissa doesn't know how to protect Kinsey from all of that."

"Except by keeping her away apparently."

Which might work temporarily, but it wouldn't be a permanent solution. In fact, it could very well backfire. When Olivia had been a teenager anything her mother had fought with her about she'd purposefully done, or at least had wanted to do more. If Kinsey went through a rebellious stage New York City would be a huge attraction. She wouldn't be prepared for what she could experience in the city, and that could lead to bad decisions. Personally Olivia thought that was a much bigger risk than letting Kinsey visit New York now when family would be around.

"Clarissa's a small town girl, Liv. The thought of the big city is scary for her. I think that's what is holding her back more than anything else."

"Mm. I guess."

Her response was weak enough to make Ben glance over at her to make sure she was okay. She'd closed her eyes and appeared to be relaxing, but Ben wasn't sure if there was more color to her face or not. He was tempted to ask if she wanted a headache pill. Chances were she would find that more irritating than anything else. It was better if he simply accepted that she knew what she needed and stuck with that. Right now all she'd said she wanted was a distraction.

"Maybe you could work on that."

Olivia snorted and looked over at him with an amused half smile.

"I'm going to get dragged into this no matter what, aren't I?"

"Pretty much guaranteed, yeah."

He flashed her a bright grin and reached over to pat her hand. Olivia threaded her fingers with his and loosely held on.

"That's what I figured," she muttered. "The perfect expert witness for both of them."

"Don't worry about it too much, Liv."

"I'm not. There are other things to worry about."

"Like the pounding headache you've got going on right now?"

Her eyes flickered briefly to him and then away again. He could read her far too easily, but even so she didn't want to come right out and admit it.

"I'm fine."

"Olivia," Ben sighed. He knew full well that she was lying. Completely and utterly lying.

"Ben," she returned in a slightly sharper tone.

"You don't have to be strong for me. I'd rather you not be in pain."

"I'm okay, Ben," Olivia insisted.

Again he knew she wasn't being completely honest, but for the moment he wouldn't argue with her. This wasn't over though. He would keep an eye on her for the remainder of the drive, looking for any further signs of a headache. She was already looking pale and wasn't saying much. Those were enough signs as it was. By the time they had reached Manhattan and were winding through familiar roads Ben picked up on another possible indication of a bad headache. Whenever they hit a large bump or pothole in the road Olivia winced. Ben doubted she'd even realized he noticed. As he turned down the road her apartment was on he glanced toward her again.

"You know, I'm not going to leave you alone with a headache as big as I think you have."

Olivia rolled her eyes and looked his way. He may have been right in his assumption that she had the beginnings of what was going to be a whopper of a headache, but that didn't mean she wanted him babying her.

"You need to go home, Ben. Your neighbors are going to think you abandoned your place and moved in with me."

"That wouldn't be a particularly bad thing."

She looked over at him in surprise, and he quickly added as an afterthought, "Except my place is much nicer than yours."

Olivia snorted in amusement and turned away from him, though not before giving one last retort.

"Maybe, but you're still going home."

Ben accepted that without question mainly because she had given him something more important to think about. He'd expected his comment about moving in together to be shot down immediately. Instead Olivia hadn't even commented about it. Honestly it greatly surprised him, but it also caused a rush of warmth to spread through his body. There was hope in her reaction. Maybe he could start considering moving in together as a real possibility.

Author's Note: That's all for this section, and you won't be getting much for a little while because I will be off on vacation. Of course it's possible that vacation will be enough time to actually finish writing the entire story. I know, amazing. Granted I won't have internet and I'll need to look up song lyrics, but it should be close to done at least... which means more updates all in a row for you!