Chapter 39

Chapter Rating: PG


The only sound that could be heard was of the whirring of the giant anvil as it hurled its way from the heavens and straight down towards the unsuspecting Wiley Coyote's head in the room at the end of the hall.

Olivia's brow furrowed slightly as she studied the expression on the other woman's face. She wasn't much of a poker player, but years spent making high stakes deals in the boardroom had taught her how to read people. What she was trying to gauge at that moment was the sincerity behind the younger woman's words. Instinct was telling her to simply blurt out "Yes, you do! You DO know!" Passion was telling her to quickly lunge the short distance between them and kiss away whatever uncertainty and fear Natalia was still holding onto. And plain old 'Spencer-style' Stubbornness was telling her to rebuild the wall, protecting her heart from disappointment, by having her say "Fine, whatever. Forget I even asked!"

Olivia knew that Logic would win, though, and that none of these other responses, in any case, were going to get her any closer to the beautifully complicated woman.

So what DO I say now? she wondered. She could tell by Natalia's eyes that she wasn't simply trying to be vague for the sake of being gently coerced into saying "Yes." It was obvious that the other hotelier honestly did not know where she stood on the issue.

"I do," was all that Olivia could offer.

Natalia brought her mug up to her lips to take a sip but before doing so asked, "You do, what?"

"I do know... That I want to try."

For as strongly as Olivia had wanted to give herself over to passion and kiss away the doubt, Natalia had been wanting her to do that same thing. No one but she herself knew how badly she had wanted to say 'yes'. She didn't understand what had stopped her but, whatever it was, it was large, and it sat directly in between them on that couch.

"I know you do," Natalia said, looking at the couch cushion in front of her. "To me it just feels like there is too much to 'fix'. It's a bit overwhelming right now."

Olivia quickly identified this as the tiny ray of light that she had been looking for. "Okay..." She set her mug down on the coffee-table. "Okay, so we start out small. One step at a time."

"Starting with...?"

"Friendship."

Natalia nodded her head slowly but gave Olivia a disbelieving look at the same time. "Friendship," she restated slowly.

"Mmhm."

"What's that again?"

"Funny."

"Alright," Natalia said as she set her own mug down. "So how do we do 'friendship'?"

There was a knock at the door, which both women rightly assumed was their breakfast order.

"We are doing it right now," Olivia said as she moved from the couch and walked towards the door. "We're able to have perfectly normal conversations, Natalia. We just both have to want to move forward and stop acting like rivals in a sand- box." The older woman answered the door, received the cart and generously tipped the man delivering it. "Emmabug! Breakfast!"

A moment later, Emma emerged from the hallway and bounced excitedly into the living room area. Noticing the guest on the couch, she halted in mid-hop. Eying Natalia with intrigue, she continued over to the dining room table.

"Hi, Natalia," she said nonchalantly, apparently having quickly made the decision that she approved of the new house-guest.

"Hello, Emma." Natalia watched as Emma pulled out one of the high dining room chairs and climbed up onto it.

Olivia had come back over to the sofa to retrieve her coffee cup.

"Do you think she has caught on to just how foreign children really are to me?" Natalia asked with a slightly worried look.

"You'll be fine." Olivia offered her hand to the other woman to help her up. "You spend most of your time acting like a child anyways," she said with a smirk.

Natalia accepted the gesture. "What can I say?" She placed her hand within Olivia's. "You bring out the best of all the sides of me."

Olivia backed up slowly, leading Natalia around the couch with her. She gave the hand in hers a gentle squeeze. "Well, I am trying."

The two women kept moving, almost getting lost in a meaningful glance.

"Can Natalia sit beside me?" the little girl asked and Natalia quickly let go of Olivia's hand.

"I don't know. I guess you'll have to ask her yourself," Olivia answered.

"You wanna?" The bright-eyed girl looked up at Natalia, expectantly.

"Of course I do," Natalia answered with a smile.

"Did you order me ham and eggs?" Emma asked as her mom set out the covered plates. Both mother and daughter noticed that there were two extra plates on the cart that were of a smaller size than the others. "Whose are those?" inquired the confused child.

"Oh..." Natalia quickly grabbed the two plates before Olivia had a chance to uncover them. "These are just little extras that I ordered for you and your mother." Natalia peaked under the lid of one of them and then handed them accordingly to her two hosts.

Emma made short work of uncovering her gift and her eyes went wide with excitement.

"Hannah Montana tickets!! She's my absolute favorite! How did you know?"

"Ummmm, took a wild guess."

"I'm gonna take Jane 'cause Mommy will just ruin it by asking so many questions."

Olivia feigned shock and hurt feelings. "What?! I have no idea what you mean!"

Natalia turned to Emma. "She isn't coming back to California until the end of next month so maybe if we fill your Mom in on all that will go on in the show, she won't ruin it for you."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "I guess it's my turn, huh?"

Natalia looked embarrassed now, "Or you could wait till later, whatever."

"Yeah, right! Emma gets her eagerness and ambition from me." Olivia uncovered her own unexpected present and then looked up at Natalia with a knowing smile. On the small plate was a small envelope labeled 'Spa' which Olivia assumed was a day-pass to the facilities. What had her smiling, however, was the single, short-stemmed lavender rose that lay next to the envelope. The speechless hotelier brought the rose up to her lips. Olivia wondered if this was some sort of confirmation to her earlier question before she remembered that Natalia had ordered the rose before they had begun to talk.

An 'I'm Sorry' rose is better than none, she thought to herself.

Emma giggled at her Mom. "Why'd you get a silly rose?" she asked. "Jane says her boyfriend only gets her roses when he's done something bad."

"Jane has a boyfriend?" Olivia quickly tried to change the subject, more for Natalia's sake than her own.

"Mmhm," Emma replied. "She also says that we only ever get hurt by the people we really care about because if we didn't care then there would be no hurt." The little girl made a confused face. "I don't think I know what that means."

Natalia looked up at Olivia. "Whatever it means, I think Jane might be right."

Emma was sufficiently distracted from her previous question and began to work on the food that had been put in front of her. They all ate a few bites of their meals before she turned her attention back to Natalia. "I think you should have breakfast with us more often."

"You aren't saying that just because you got a free gift out of it, are you?"

The little girl shook her head and giggled. "Mommy never invites anyone over for breakfast. Well, unless it's Uncle Andrew."

Olivia nearly choked on the bite of food she had just taken and couldn't say anything fast enough to stop her daughter from continuing.

"Uncle Andrew? The same Andrew that is here in California with you?" It wasn't obvious to whom Natalia had asked the question, but Emma was the first to respond.

"Yup. And even then, Uncle Andy stays over for the whole night, so he kinda has to have breakfast with us. It's not the same as this." Emma finished, pointing to the three of them.

"Clearly." Natalia looked over at Olivia and raised her eyebrows questioningly at her.

"Emma, Sweetie, finish your eggs, please." Olivia glanced sheepishly at Natalia. "Later," she mumbled to the other woman.

"Most definitely," answered Natalia quietly. Her entire posture had changed as she took in the new information that the child beside her had inadvertently provided her.

Emma herself had moved on. "Do you know how to make pancakes, Natalia?"

The younger woman shifted the focus of her thoughts, "Yes, I do. Why do you ask?"

"Because, maybe if you stay over, you can make me pancakes for breakfast."

It was Natalia's turn to choke. "I... uhhh..."

"Sounds like a fantastic idea to me," gloated Olivia with a chuckle. She raised her juice glass and winked at Natalia.

"I'm not at all certain about the 'staying over' part, but one of these days I would love to make you some pancakes," Natalia answered.

"Tomorrow?" Emma asked.

"Emmabug, let's not assume that we can take up all of Natalia's time..."

"Pleeeaase!"

Olivia laughed and shook her head. "She's a persistent one."

"Like mother like daughter, no?" Natalia quipped.

"Darn, you beat me to it."

"She doesn't happen to know Henry the Eighth, does she?"

The two women finished their meals as Emma talked about how excited she was about going to the concert.

"Emma, if you're finished with your plate, can you bring it over to the cart and go get ready to go shopping?"

Her daughter complied and skipped off towards her bedroom.

Natalia pushed her chair aside, as did Olivia, and the two of them began to clear the rest of the table. Olivia watched Natalia closely. The brunette's demeanor had shifted slightly.

"I will thank you now, for the both of us, for our presents. Though I suspect Emma will be thanking you from now until the end of next month, and beyond. She's just a little excited right now."

Natalia smiled, but didn't look up. "You are both welcome. Just trying to do something... friendly."

The table was cleared in silence and Natalia then moved over to the couch to retrieve her purse. "I suppose I should let you get ready for your afternoon excursions now." She began to move to the door.

Olivia followed closely behind and darted ahead of her to get to the doorway first. She kept her hand on the knob and stood there instead of opening it for Natalia. "You doing anything this afternoon?"

Natalia smirked. "I probably have a thousand pieces of boring paperwork that I should get around to taking care of at some point. Why? Are you asking me out on a 'shopping date'?"

"Maybe."

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have Uncle Andy join you instead?"

Olivia knew it was bothering Natalia and that it would have to be addressed soon. She took a step forward. "Hey... Andrew isn't here. He hasn't 'stayed over' in quite some time. And he is not the one who I am standing in front of, asking out on a 'shopping date'. Okay?"

When Natalia didn't respond right away and merely looked at the floor, Olivia took a quick glance towards the hallway and, seeing no movement there, stepped forward again until she was within an inch of the other woman. She lifted Natalia's chin with her index finger.

"I loved my rose, by the way."

"You're such a girl," Natalia joked even as she stared into the mesmerizing green eyes before hers.

Olivia dipped her head slowly down and brought her lips close to Natalia's.

"As are you," she whispered and gave the breathless woman a quick but sweet kiss. "And I don't think either of us are minding that at all." She smiled and pulled back when she heard her daughter's bedroom door open.

"Sheila was telling me yesterday that you never give her enough work to do," Olivia said as she folded her arms. "I think maybe she should help you with your 'paperwork' and you should come with us this afternoon."

Natalia laughed. "Oh really?"

The older woman looked at her daughter. "Whad'ya say? Should we sing to her until she says yes?"

Natalia held up her hands in surrender. "No no no! No need. I will call Sheila from my room."

Olivia gave her a wink and opened the door for her. "Meet back here in half an hour?"

"If you are certain that's all the time you need to make yourself look at least half-decent, then sure."

Natalia moved through the door and, on her way out, she caught Olivia's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"See you soon."

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The phone rang while Natalia was quickly trying to brush her teeth and decide what to wear, simultaneously. She spit the frothy paste out into the sink and searched the other room for her cell.

"Natalia Rivera."

"Hello, Natalia, it's Jacques."

"Okay." Natalia said in a neutral tone. "And?"

"I was just wondering if you had heard from your father this morning. He was supposed to meet us down here for a review of the proposal and..."

"I haven't heard from him." She cut him off, not wanting to be reminded of the largest subject of disagreement between her and Olivia right before they were about to spend the day together.

"Yes, but it's just that he is quite late and..."

"I don't have time to wander around looking for my father, Jacques. I haven't seen him since I had dinner with him last night. He must have gotten tied up on a business call or something. I don't know, but I have to go now."

She hung up the phone and tried to put any thoughts about the merger out of her mind. Looking at her phone, she decided to put the damned thing on 'Silent' for the afternoon.

"Sorry, Jacques. More urgent matters to attend to today," she said into the silence of her room and smiled.


"My missing father will just have to wait."