Skyfall
Chapter Nine
Rebecca woke up to tiny fingers poking her shoulder. It took her a moment to remember that she and Harvey decided to sleep on the couch instead of driving back to their hotel last night since it was so late. She opened her eyes and saw Olivia and Ethan staring at her.
"Hey guys." She greeted quietly in the hopes of not waking Harvey up. She reluctantly disentangled herself from Harvey's grasp and led the kids into the kitchen.
"What are you and Uncle Harvey doing here?" Ethan asked.
"We missed you guys and thought we would come up for a visit." She answered. It was only a partial lie. She could see that Olivia bought the lie because she was only six. Ethan, being eleven, just kept looking at her strangely.
"We missed you too!" Olivia smiled, giving her a hug.
She picked Olivia up and gave her a big hug. Then she sat the girl down on a stool at the kitchen island next to where Ethan was sitting. She then gave Ethan a hug.
"So what would you two like for breakfast?" She asked with a smile on her face.
"Pancakes!" Olivia spoke up.
"Ok." Rebecca agreed. "Ethan, is that ok with you?"
"I guess." He nodded.
"With chocolate chips please!" Olivia added.
"How about I make you a deal?" Rebecca told her niece. "If you can tell me where your grandma keeps the chocolate chips, I will make them. Ok?"
"Ok!" Olivia pointed to the cabinet next to the stove.
She opened the cabinet door and immediately saw the chocolate chips. "Ok. Looks like we are having chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Who wants to help me make them?"
"I do!" Oliva jumped out of her seat.
"Do you want to help Ethan?" She asked, looking over at the boy.
"Nah." He shook his head. "Let Olivia help you."
"Ok." She nodded. She felt bad for Olivia and Ethan. Maybe that was why she gave in so quickly about chocolate chip pancakes. She remembered how it felt when her dad told her about her mom's death. Of course he wasn't kind about it.
He woke her up the next morning, gave her the fake suicide note and told her that her mom was dead and never coming back. There was no hug, no reassuring words or anything like that. Just a cold announcement from a cold hearted man. She was determined to make sure that didn't happen this time.
Harvey stood in the doorway of the kitchen, watching as Rebecca made breakfast with Olivia. She was being very patient because Olivia kept making a mess with the pancake batter. But Rebecca would just laugh it off and try to show her a better way to do it. She really seemed like she was made to be a mom. Could he be a father though? He shook that thought from his head. Now wasn't the time to think about it.
He looked over at Ethan and saw that he was just sitting there looking bored.
"For what it's worth, I like Rebecca." Lily said quietly, coming up to stand next to him. "I think you chose well."
"It's not worth anything." He sighed, not looking over at his mother. "But I do agree. I got incredibly lucky finding her. By some miracle she puts up with me."
"Harvey, how long are you going to punish me for something that happened twenty years ago?" She sighed.
"I'm not punishing you." He told her. "I just don't care to have you in my life. That's all, and I'm not having this conversation with you." He took a deep breath and entered the kitchen. "Good morning."
He watched as Rebecca turned and smiled at him. Olivia dropped what she was doing and ran over to hug his leg. He laughed and picked her up to give her a proper hug.
"Hi Uncle Harvey." Olivia said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"How is my favorite niece?" He asked.
"I'm good. Aunt Becca is making chocolate chip pancakes and I'm helping!"
"Those sounds delicious." He winked at her. "I'll let you get back to helping her." He promptly put her back down on the floor and she hurried back over to Rebecca's side. So then he went over and sat next to Ethan. "And how is my favorite nephew?"
"I'm your only nephew." Ethan pointed out.
"Well that is true but it still doesn't mean you can't be my favorite." Harvey argued.
"Why are you and Aunt Becca here?" He questioned. "You guys have never been in the same room as Grandma before. Why now all of a sudden?"
"It's like I said earlier." Rebecca interjected before putting a plate of pancakes in front of him. "We missed you guys."
Harvey got up from his seat so Olivia could sit there now that her breakfast was ready. He walked over to Rebecca and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"I made some coffee." She told him.
"Good." He chuckled. "I need some desperately."
"Where is Marcus?" She asked quietly so that the kids wouldn't hear her.
"He decided to sleep in his car last night." Harvey answered just as quietly. "I think he will be in here soon to talk to them."
She grabbed a hold of his free hand and gave it a squeeze.
Rebecca started doing the dishes after the kids were done eating. A few minutes ago the kids went into the living room with Harvey to watch some television. She looked over and saw Lily come stand by her.
"You don't have to do the dishes." Lily told her.
"I don't mind." She shrugged. "I created the dishes making breakfast so I should clean up your kitchen. It's only fair. Besides, it gives me something to do with the nervous energy I have. When I get this anxious, I like to clean."
"I understand completely. I'm the same way." Lily chuckled softly, grabbing a towel to help dry.
A few minutes later they heard the front door open and exchanged nervous glances as they heard Olivia cry out enthusiastically to her dad.
It was only moments later that Olivia came barreling through the kitchen and out to the backyard. Ethan followed behind, but he was walking at a much slower pace. Her heart broke for them because she knew what they were going to feel once they found out about their mom. Marcus came in last after Ethan was already outside.
She took a good look at her brother in law. He looked like a total mess but that was understandable. She hurried over and gave him a quick hug. "Anything you need…let me know." She whispered.
"Thanks Rebecca." He said before going out to the backyard.
She tried not to be nosy and tried not to watch through the window as Marcus told his kids about Katie's death. But she couldn't help watching as he explained everything. Neither could Lily so they both stood at the window.
Olivia latched on to him immediately, hugging him tightly. She watched as Marcus tried to bring Ethan in for a hug too, but Ethan turned away, choosing instead to come back inside.
"Ethan…" Lily called out. He just kept walking past them, heading upstairs.
She looked over at Lily, then at Harvey who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen. "Let me try to talk to him."
She went upstairs and had to guess which room was the one the kids were staying in. The second door she opened was the right one. She saw Ethan sitting on the side of his bed, staring at the ground.
She slowly approached the bed and sat next to him. "Hey."
"I knew there was something wrong." He said, not looking over at her. "Why did you tell me what was going on?"
"I know you did." She nodded. "And we would have told you but your dad wanted to be the one to tell you what happened."
"So she's really dead?"
"I'm afraid so."
"It's not fair." He whispered, starting to cry.
"No. It really isn't." She put her arm around him and pulled him closer to her. "Can I tell you something personal about myself?"
"I guess."
"When I was a little younger than you, I lost my mom in a car accident." She explained. "I was so mad at the world and so confused about why I had to lose my mom. It didn't make any sense to me and I was so sad about it for a long time."
"Did you ever stop being sad?"
"I did. I mean, I still miss her a lot. That never goes away. But I realized she wouldn't want me stay sad for the rest of my life. She would want me to find a way to move on. You don't have to forget her, I don't mean to make it sound like that because you'll never forget her. I just mean that you are incredibly lucky because you have something that I didn't have when I lost my mom."
"What's that?" He asked.
"You have a dad who loves you more than I think he could ever possibly express. You have a little sister who absolutely idolizes you. You have a grandmother who thinks you are the greatest thing since sliced bread. You have your Uncle Harvey, who I know adores you. And you have me. You have a whole group of people who love you and are going to do whatever we can to help you, your sister and your dad get through this." She explained.
"I'm just really sad."
"I know sweetie." She kissed the top of his head. "I'm sad about it too. Your mom was the greatest and you're going to be sad for a while. We all will. But you're going to be ok. I promise you that. And even after Uncle Harvey and I go back to New York, you can call us anytime you need to because we are here for you. And we can talk about anything you want. Alright?"
"Yeah." He wrapped his arms around her to hug her. "Thanks Aunt Becca."
"Do you want to stay up here or go back downstairs?"
"Can we just stay up here for a little bit longer?" He asked.
"Of course."
When she came downstairs with Ethan later, he ran right into the living room and hugged his dad. She smiled and went into the kitchen. Lily was sitting at the kitchen island with a cup of coffee in her hand.
"Where's Harvey?"
"He's in the backyard on the phone." Lily answered. "How did you get Ethan to come downstairs?"
"I just told him the truth. He's an incredibly lucky kid who has a whole group of adults who love him." She explained. "I'm going to go check on Harvey."
She made her way outside as Harvey was shoving his phone back into his pocket. "What did Donna have to say about how things are going back home?" She asked as she stood next to him.
"How did you know I was talking to Donna?" He looked over and smirked.
"Because you're getting predictable in your older age." She laughed, looking at him.
He leaned in and kissed her. "Did you predict that?"
"Actually, yes I did." She smirked, grabbing a hold of his hand and resting her head on his shoulder.
"Donna says everything is fine and I don't need to call and check on things again. Mike is handling everything for us, and if he needs help Louis agreed to step in and catch whatever Mike doesn't have time to get to." He explained.
"We're lucky to have such great friends."
"I know." He nodded. "Did you get Ethan to come downstairs?"
"Yes." She nodded.
"I knew you would."
"Do you think we should go to our hotel for a little bit? Let Marcus have some time alone with the kids? We could freshen up and then come back in a couple of hours." She suggested.
"Yeah. We should probably do that." He agreed.