DISCLAIMER: Guiding Light and its characters are the property of Proctor & Gamble. No infringement intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is dedicated to the two amazing, talented, and highly annoying women, flying_peanuts and dinovia, who nagged me into watching Otalia. Without them, I would not be staying up till 4 in the morning, watching and re-watching clips. I would not be obsessed. I would, in short, be far less tired, and far less blessed by this pairing, this impossibly beautiful love story. And that would be a great loss. So, Peanuts and Seftiri, this is for you. These two lovely people also served as betas extraordinaire, fixing my grammatical errors and making certain that Natalia's voice sounds like Natalia and Olivia's like Olivia. I am immensely grateful to them both for their help and for their friendship. This story is not meant to be anything other than slightly snarky fluff. The idea of Reva and Olivia in a room together was just too entertaining to pass up. It didn't go exactly where I initially intended, but Ms. Spencer spoke up and directed me where she wanted this to go and really, who am I to argue?
SPOILERS: Set after the events of the week of June 1-5. After space and most adorable wave in the world.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Best of Enemies
By Fewthistle
Olivia Spencer had been sifting through a lopsided stack of papers on her desk for the past three hours, to little effect. At the rate things were going, she was never going to get through the pile of invoices before midnight. She glanced up at the sound of a firm knock at her office door.
Great, just what I need, she sighed.
"Come in," she called tiredly, quickly scrawling her signature along the bottom of one more invoice.
"No rest for the wicked, eh, Olivia?" Not a voice that Olivia had been anticipating. Or wanting to hear. Ever.
She looked up to meet Reva's round blue eyes, the events of the past few days having done little to dim the amused, malicious gleam in their depths.
"I knew I felt a cold wind blow across my soul," Olivia said sardonically, a fake smile fleetingly gracing her lips.
"When'd you get one of those?" Reva responded, sashaying into Olivia's office and dropping down, unsolicited, into the chair in front of her desk, her tone a perfect match to Olivia's. "Don't tell me they're doing soul transplants, too! What will they think of next?"
"Gee, maybe giving birth at nearly sixty?" Olivia replied, the patented Spencer smirk firmly in place. "Jesus, Reva, talk about eggs past their sell-by date."
"Well, I'll take expired eggs over an expired ticker any day," Reva smiled widely, part of her enjoying the familiarity of their mutual disdain.
"You've got about twenty seconds to tell me the purpose of this unwelcome visit, Reva, before I have security escort you off my property," Olivia's voice was hard, as she regarded her uninvited guest.
"Oh, come on, Olivia. You've taken a lot worse from me. Hell, you've taken a lot worse from half of Springfield." A gleeful smirk plastered firmly on her face, Reva leaned forward in her chair, head tilting to the side as she slowly, deliberately looked Olivia up and down. "Speaking of. So, you're a lesbian, now, huh? Olivia Spencer, Man-Eater Extraordinaire. Who'd a ever thunk it? Ain't that a kick in the pants?"
Reva watched in satisfaction as Olivia forced herself to breathe as a flush, either of anger or embarrassment, crept across sculpted cheekbones. Reva was betting on anger. Olivia didn't do embarrassed.
"Yup, just now. By the way, Jeffrey's dead meat." Olivia said quietly, her voice far more controlled than Reva had expected.
"Oh, please. It isn't like you've ever been the soul of discretion. Half of Springfield thought that you and Natalia were shacked up at the farmhouse after Emma's speech. And from what I hear, you seemed to make it a habit to tell most of your ex-husbands. What were you, the town crier? And since Natalia left poor Frank standing like an idiot at the altar, it wasn't hard to figure out. So, don't get your panties in a wad, Olivia. I'm not judging you. To tell the truth, from what I've heard, Natalia's been good for you. I understand you're almost human these days. Besides, I'm happy to hear you've moved on to women. Means my son is finally safe from getting snared in one of your webs," Reva explained, unable to keep the impatience out of her voice.
Olivia glanced up at her through long lashes, a slight, dangerous smile turning up the corners of that generous mouth.
"Yeah, I suppose Shayne is safe now. Good thing you've got a daughter, too. How is Marah these days, Reva?" Olivia felt an almost forgotten, visceral sensation slide through her as she watched Reva bristle at her words.
To Olivia's shock, Reva laughed, a low chuckle that raised the hackles on Olivia's neck.
"Right. From what I've heard, you're not only head over heels, you're completely and totally whipped, so I'm not worried. And God knows, after all the crap you've pulled in your life, you deserve someone to lead you around by the nose."
"Seriously, what do you want, Reva? I can't believe that you would waste what would no doubt be a perfectly good public opportunity to harass me about Natalia, so you must want something to be willing to give that up. What, did you want to use my office window to scope out your next victim? I've got a great view of the park," Olivia goaded, the feeling of glee at taunting Reva undiminished with the years.
"Funny you should mention that," Reva pronounced, her glance speculative as she stared at the woman across the desk from her. Apparently satisfied that Olivia hadn't thrown her out yet, she took a deep breath and began. "You have to know how much it kills me to say this, but desperate times and all. I need a favor."
The sound of Olivia's sharp bark of laughter echoed against the high ceiling of the office.
"Me? You want to ask me for a favor?" Olivia chuckled, getting up to cross to the window and peer intently up at the pale grayish blue of the early Spring sky.
"What're you looking at?" Reva asked suspiciously, her lips pursed in dislike as she regarded Olivia's nearly perfect profile. For a woman who had been through the wringer this past year, she was looking disgustingly good.
"Just checking for flying pigs," Olivia smirked, turning to face Reva, her hands braced against the sturdy wood of the windowsill.
"Could you stop with the snide remarks and just listen for a minute?" Reva nearly managed to keep the thin thread of anxiety out of her voice, but wasn't completely successful.
Olivia's green eyes narrowed as she regarded the older woman, her sharp glance taking in the dark circles, the lines that makeup just couldn't hide. And the hint, like the faint discoloration of smoke against the horizon, of fear in Reva's eyes.
"Fine. So ask," Olivia stated, her voice far less hostile than before.
"I know you told Jeffrey that you saw me with Edmund down by the river and that it looked like we were arguing," Reva said slowly, her gaze fixed on the dark wood of the office walls.
"Reva, we had this conversation the day Shayne had that memorial for Edmund in the park. I told you, I'm not going to the police and I'm not interested in getting involved," Olivia interrupted, her face impatient as she pushed off the windowsill and crossed back to drop gracefully into her desk chair.
"Yeah, I know. The thing is, I need you to get involved." Reva answered cryptically.
Olivia didn't respond immediately, a myriad of reasons and requests and consequences rushing through her brain at lightening speed.
"Just cut to the chase already, okay? What do you want?"
"I want you to go to see Mallet and tell him you saw me with Edmund that afternoon," Reva explained quickly, her voice a little higher than usual, as if the extra air needed to get the words out had sent the pitch spiraling upward.
"And why would you want me to that?"
"Well, I need a few witnesses and since I know you saw us, you'd be perfect," Reva offered, the completely guileless expression on her face setting off a thousand warning signals, like errant fire alarms, in Olivia's head.
"That's all? You just want me to put you at the scene of a crime?" Olivia asked knowingly, head tilted in contemplation. "Come off it, Reva. What's the catch?"
"God, Olivia, you're always so damn suspicious," Reva complained, taking the opportunity to rise and cross the room, quickly opening the office door and peering out, before closing it, seemingly satisfied.
"Yeah, well, Pot, why don't you just tell Kettle here what the hell it is you want from her?" Olivia exclaimed, exasperated and not a little amused at Reva's antics.
"I need an alibi. And since you saw me, and didn't see me push Edmund in the river, I was thinking that you could say I was with you. You know, with you? 'Cause I know you didn't see Natalia till the next morning," Reva smiled her most winning smile, watching the play of emotions flit across Olivia's face. Astonishment. Confusion. Disbelief. Irritation. Finally, realization.
"Wait a minute. Wait a fucking minute. You're not suggesting what I think that you're suggesting, are you? Because if you are, you have lost your freakin' mind!" Olivia knew her voice has risen in volume but she couldn't help it, as a wave of what could only be nausea at the mental image now plastered across her mind rolled over her. "You want me to lie to Mallet and tell him that you and I were having a little tryst here in my office so you couldn't have killed Edmund? You seriously want me to say I was cheating on Natalia with you to get you off?"
"Well, someone getting off is an important part of this alibi," Reva rejoined, her eyebrows moving up suggestively.
"OUT! Get the hell out of my office, right now!" Olivia crossed the floor in a few quick strides, flinging the door open and pointing imperiously.
"Olivia, come on. No one would be able to dispute it and to be honest, it's so far-fetched and impossible to believe that it must be true, right? I mean, otherwise, would anybody believe that you would give me an alibi? And we can say that you didn't come forward before because you didn't want to upset Natalia. Come on, you owe me," Reva pleaded, moving to stand near Olivia, one hand snaking out to clasp her arm.
"I owe you?! Where….how the hell… Goddamn it, Reva, I don't owe you a thing. And even if Natalia agreed to go along with such a friggin' demented plan, I would rather go to jail for killing Edmund myself than have anyone think that I would ever cheat on Natalia." Olivia's face was flushed and for a minute Reva worried about setting off her heart again.
"You're really in love with her, aren't you?" Reva couldn't keep the note of wonder out of her voice. Olivia Freakin' Spencer, impossibly in love with another woman. A kind, warm, generous woman who had apparently worked a few certifiable miracles and found the saint inside the sinner. Fucking amazing.
"Not that it's even slightly your business, but yes, I am. And I would never do anything to hurt her in any way. So, I'm sorry but you're going to have to find some other sucker to con into lying for you," Olivia responded firmly, her voice slightly kinder than she intended it to be.
"Fine. I guess Colin is just going to have to grow up without his mother. I would have thought that you of all people would recognize how awful it is to be forcefully separated from your child." Reva's eyes were full of pain and worry and, despite long years of dislike and disdain, Olivia couldn't help the rush of sympathy that swept over her. She had lived with a similar look for months now as Natalia tried to navigate being away from Rafe.
"Look, Reva: to begin with, no one would believe it. You and me? Come on. That's, that's like believing that Rush Limbaugh and Hillary Clinton have been secretly fucking for years. And shit, now I have that awful mental image seared into my brain. Thanks," Olivia explained, shaking her head to try and scatter those stomach-turning pictures. "There has to be someone else who can give you an alibi."
"I'll think of something. I always do," Reva said finally, nodding briefly at Olivia before slipping out the door and disappearing down the hall.
Olivia stood and stared after her, amazed at the feeling of regret that had taken up residence inside her at not being able to help Reva. Little more than a year ago, she had no doubt that she would have immensely enjoyed watching Reva being charged with murder, seeing her former rival jailed with little hope of reprieve. But then, that Olivia Spencer had died last year waiting for a heart. The one standing here to day bore only a superficial resemblance: a quirking eyebrow and a quick tongue that barely managed to hide the generous nature and the warm heart she was only now beginning to feel was truly her own.
Now that she had given it away.
Smiling at the thought of the astonishing woman she had fallen in love with, Olivia dropped back into her chair, the smile lingering at the corners of her full lips as she threw herself into finishing the paperwork on her desk. With Natalia taking some time off to be with Rafe, Olivia had discovered just how much her assistant took care of at the Beacon, hence the towering stack of invoices to be read and signed and the mounting list of things to be addressed with her staff. With a sigh, Olivia dove in head first.
She had barely made it through the first three sheets when a voice from the doorway brought her head up with a snap.
"Hey, you." Natalia smiled sweetly, her head tilted to the side as she met Olivia's green eyes from across the room. She really ought to come with some sort of warning label, Natalia decided, crossing to meet the older woman as she rounded her desk, a wide smile lighting her face. When she had that particular expression in them, Olivia's eyes could start a forest fire. They'd definitely started a slow burn inside her over the past few months.
"What're you doing here?" Olivia asked tenderly, her hands slipping into her pockets as she stopped a few feet from Natalia. A month ago they would have practically rushed into each other's arms, but lately, since Rafe's return, there was a distance between them, as if they both knew that a slight touch would tip the tentative balance they had created, sending them tottering over an edge that neither was ready for just yet. "You're supposed to be spending time with Rafe."
"Well, Rafe's with Frank, doing their mentoring thing, and I had to come into town for groceries and then I need to go to the post office and…," Natalia's voice, rising and falling in a speech pattern that Olivia knew well - hesitant, with just a trace of longing thrown in for good measure - suddenly trailed off, only to resume in a flood of words. "I missed you. I haven't seen you in two days and I can't stop thinking about you and it was driving me crazy, so here I am."
The smile that lit Olivia's face was nothing short of dazzling. Natalia felt like a miner emerging from the complete darkness of the cold earth to the life-giving light of a summer's sun. No one had ever looked at her the way Olivia did and even now, after two months of acknowledging their feelings, the depths of Olivia's love left her grasping for purchase as the world tilted a little on its axis.
"I missed you, too," Olivia murmured, the honeyed tones of her voice sliding along Natalia's skin like the whisper of silk.
Drowning. Drowning in those eyes with no hope of rescue. Natalia forced herself to look away, to focus on the mass of papers on the desk and not at Olivia's eyes. Slowly, she felt the air return to her lungs, saw the wavering sunlight as she broke through the surface of the water.
"My God, Olivia, where did that huge pile of stuff come from?" Weak and a bit trite, but the best she could do at the moment, Natalia tried to take a step back from the precipice she knew lay just beyond the green of Olivia's eyes.
Olivia half-smiled, half-grimaced at Natalia's retreat from the emotions swirling like a purple fog between them. She had promised the other woman patience and space and she intended to keep her word. Even if each encounter felt like walking on broken glass.
"Well, you know, my assistant is out for the week and I guess I didn't realize how much work she does around here, so things have piled up a little." Olivia smiled, her voice warm and teasing and normal, and Natalia felt the earth settle back under her feet. "And I had a visitor, so I haven't gotten as much done as I had hoped."
"Oh, who was here?" Natalia asked, sinking into the chair in front of Olivia's desk.
"Nobody important," Olivia replied, mentally smacking herself for even mentioning it. Knowing Natalia as she did, Olivia had no doubt that she would manage, with a dimpled smile and those damn brown eyes, to ferret out the information. Better to give it up now and control how much she said then wait for the coming Inquisition. "Just Reva."
"Reva? What in the world did she want?" A small frown creased Natalia's forehead, one that Olivia found rather adorable. And distracting. Hence the unintended honesty of her reply.
"She kinda wanted me to give her an alibi for killing Edmund," Olivia helplessly watched the words tumble out, like gumballs from broken sack.
"You? Reva wanted you to give her an alibi?" Though she hadn't been in Springfield for all that long, Natalia knew enough about Olivia's relationship with Reva to recognize the absurdity of the request.
"She had some harebrained, asinine idea, but I told her to forget it, so she left," Olivia tried to keep her tone casual, leaning back against the edge of her desk.
"What kind of idea?"
Dammit. She really ought to be able to stop herself from blabbing things destined only to start trouble. If Natalia hadn't been staring at her with those big brown eyes and looking all cute and confused, she might have been able to manage it. Yeah, right.
"Oh, just one of her half-assed schemes. So, Rafe's with Frank? What's on the mentoring menu for today?" Olivia went for breezy, hoping that the mention of her son would distract Natalia from her quarry.
No such luck.
"Olivia. What aren't you telling me? Why would Reva come to you for help? And why are you hedging and not telling me? She didn't talk you into doing something illegal, did she? Because I've had more than enough of people I love being in jail to last me a lifetime," Natalia stated sternly, her eyes meeting and holding Olivia's in a no nonsense glare. "Olivia."
"No, she didn't talk me into anything. I swear. She just had this idiotic idea about getting me to say she was here with me when Edmund was killed, that's all." Hedging again, but hopefully more successfully.
Or not.
"If she had been here with you, why wouldn't you have gone to the police already and told them that? And why wouldn't she? I mean, I'm no detective, but why would the police believe this sudden alibi that no one mentioned until now?" The little frown was back again, accompanied by the appearance of one of those infamous dimples, the one that popped out when its owner was making that damned sexy, "I'm-not-smiling-even-though-it-looks-like-I-am" face.
I am so screwed, Olivia thought. So screwed. Okay, Spencer, let's see you talk your way out of this one.
"Olivia?"
"Okay. So Reva had this idea that I could say that she was here with me. As in, here with me. And that I hadn't come forward before because I figured that they wouldn't come up with any evidence and let her go. But now that they have, I couldn't let her go to prison, so I came forward. I told you, completely asinine." Olivia walked nonchalantly back around her desk as she spoke, noting that a large piece of furniture between oneself and someone who was potentially going to go ballistic was never a bad idea.
"Wait. Wait…you mean…you mean Reva wanted you…she wanted you to tell the police that you…and she…were…together?" Slight rise in pitch. Nothing too dangerous yet, but Olivia knew that voice she loved could go from soothing to screaming in less than sixty seconds. She watched as Natalia's lips opened and closed several time in succession, no sound issuing forth. Not a good sign.
"I guess she figured that if anyone questioned why I hadn't come forward, I could say that I didn't want you to find out." Slender fingers came up to pinch the bridge of her nose, her eyes closed as though bracing for impact. "It was just Reva grasping at straws. She's gotten herself in a hole and she can't see daylight, so she's willing to drag other people down with her. I told her that I would sooner go to jail for killing Edmund myself than let anyone think I would ever cheat on you."
Silence. Silence was never good, in Olivia Spencer's experience. Risking a glance, she drew in a deep breath at the look on Natalia's face. Olivia had seen a good many expressions of jealousy in her life and the look gracing Natalia's lovely face had all the tell-tale signs. Well, jealous and pissed off. The question was, pissed off at her or Reva?
"Who the hell does she think she is?" Ah, thank God: Reva. "I cannot believe that she wanted you to lie to the police and to tell them something so completely hurtful. Not just to me: What about Jeffrey? Does she not care that everyone would think that she was cheating on her husband, the father of her new baby?"
"That's the thing. I think she's so worried about going to prison and not being there for Colin that she is willing to say anything. Or in this case, have someone say it for her," Olivia explained cautiously, still not certain that Natalia's justifiable outrage was totally spent.
"I can understand that. You know I can understand how horrible it is to think about being separated from your child," Natalia's eyes were dark with remembered pain and Olivia longed to erase it, to wipe the memories of Rafe's imprisonment from her mind, but she knew she couldn't. "Still, to ask you to do that? To suggest that you would do that, with her?"
Olivia saw the instant that the other circuit connected in the flash of Natalia's eyes as they once again met hers.
"Olivia. How did Reva even know to suggest such a thing? I mean, there are a lot of men in this town she could have asked. Why would she ever think to ask you to do that? And spare me the 'I was just in a gay bar to have a drink' line." Head tilted. Chin tucked in a bit. Eyes narrowed. Definite pugilistic stance.
"I might have told Jeffrey. And Reva might have overheard a conversation," Olivia answered, her own face as contrite as she could manage. She might not have puppy-dog eyes, but you worked with what you had.
"Exactly how many people 'might" you have told, Olivia?" Calm and quiet was far scarier than outraged and angry, a lesson that Olivia had learned after months of living and fighting with each other.
Fuck. So screwed.
"I don't know. Five, maybe six," Olivia mumbled, sounding oddly like her not-quite-step-son. "Jeffrey. Bill. Doris. Josh, sort of. Mel. Phillip, again, sort of." She couldn't quite meet Natalia's eyes. "I didn't tell Reva. I have a feeling that she was eavesdropping on a conversation with Jeffrey."
"Missed an ex-husband in there, didn't you, Olivia?" The tone of Natalia's voice brought green eyes abruptly up to meet twinkling brown ones.
"You're not mad?" Olivia smiled hopefully, her nose crinkling in what Natalia had always found an impossibly endearing expression.
"I'm not happy. Not because I'm ashamed and not because you told people, so don't jump to that conclusion, okay?" Natalia stated seriously, her gaze fixed on Olivia's. "I just wish that you had told me that you had told other people. With all the worry about telling Rafe and Emma, you might have mentioned that half of Springfield already knows."
Olivia had the good grace to look suitably contrite.
"You're right. I'm sorry. Really. To be honest, I told most of them before I had told you how I felt. I was confused and I needed to talk. And I trust them. All of them. Well, except Reva, but she's got other, more important things to worry about right now than my lovelife. Forgive me?" Olivia explained, willing Natalia to understand her reasoning and accept her apology.
"Of course I do. Just, next time, tell me first. Or after anyway. Alright?" At Olivia's nod of agreement, she continued. "And there will be no admissions of infidelity. Period. Got that?"
Olivia couldn't stop the wide grin that turned up her generous mouth.
"Got it."
"Do you think she actually did it?" Natalia asked quietly.
"Kill Edmund? I don't know. I wouldn't put it past her," Olivia replied, answering aloud the question she had been asking herself since Reva walked into her office. "I do know that there are three women in this town who are capable of murder. Reva's definitely one of them."
"Who're the others?"
"Dinah."
"And?" Natalia looked as if she already knew the answer, but wasn't sure she liked it.
"Me." Olivia tried to make the pronouncement sound light, but an edge of something crept into her voice.
"Olivia, you could never kill anyone." The statement was quiet and firm and Olivia wasn't quite sure which of them Natalia was trying to convince.
"If anyone threatened my family, threatened Ava or Emma or you or Rafe, I would without batting an eye." Olivia's voice was equally quiet and firm, and Natalia could see there was no equivocation in Olivia's eyes.
Natalia knew she should argue, knew she should tell Olivia that nothing justified taking a life, but she didn't. Too much had happened, too many things had nearly destroyed their family already to resort to banalities and clichés. Besides, she couldn't stop the warmth that suffused her chest at Olivia's words and the look on her face. Natalia knew it was probably wrong to feel so loved and so protected by such sentiments, but she couldn't help it.
Slipping around the edge of Olivia's desk, Natalia leaned against the hard wood, her body close enough to Olivia that she could smell the clean scent of her body wash and the fresh air of the Spring day she had carried inside with her. She reached out a hand to Olivia, needing the feel of that smooth skin against her own.
After a moment's hesitation, Olivia slipped a hand into hers, feeling the warmth and the strength and the love in that simple touch.
"Okay. So. You'll tell me when you tell someone about us?" At Olivia's nod, she continued. "And no telling the police you were having sex with anyone but me? And yes, I realize that we aren't. Having sex that is. Right now. But we will be. Someday. Soon. And I don't want anyone like Frank thinking you would do that. Because I know you never would. And no killing anyone and going to jail. Right?"
"What if I kill someone and get away with it?" Olivia joked, trying to slow her heart at the feel of Natalia's hand in hers and the mention of potentially imminent sex.
"Olivia. You're really not as funny as you think you are, you know?"
"Yeah, I am." Olivia grinned, watching as both dimples peeked out hopefully from Natalia's cheeks.
"Olivia."
"Fine. No playing town crier without telling you. No false alibis about having sex with my nemesis on my desk. No killing anybody unless seriously provoked," Olivia promised, standing slowly, so that she was well within Natalia's personal space, their bodies mere inches apart.
"I don't remember saying anything about provocation," Natalia corrected her, her eyes fixated on the generous curves of Olivia's lips.
"Provocation can be a powerful thing," Olivia replied, her voice dropping to that range that sent goose bumps racing along Natalia's skin.
"Yes, it can be," Natalia whispered, well aware that Olivia knew exactly what that tone of voice and that "fuck me" look in her eyes did to her. "Promise me, Olivia. Promise me that you won't ever do anything that takes you away from me."
Olivia could feel a tightness in her chest that had nothing to do with her pacemaker and everything to do with her heart.
"I promise," Olivia finally managed to say, her voice thick with emotion.
"Good. Maybe we should shake on it?" Natalia took a step away from the desk, her body fitting perfectly against Olivia's as she slipped her arms around that slender waist.
"We're a little to close to shake hands. Besides, yours seem otherwise occupied," Olivia husked, every nerve ending in her body at DefCon 2, as Natalia's hands slipped up under her shirt and ghosted along the silken skin of her back.
"I suppose we could think of another way to seal the bargain. If we put our heads together," Natalia smiled, feeling for that instant as if all her worries about Rafe, all her concerns about this fledging thing between them were gone. There was only Olivia and this love that left her breathless and suffused with joy. Tonight or tomorrow or the next day, all the fears and worries would no doubt return, some grown more terrifying, some less concrete.
But for now, a kiss to seal the promise seemed only right.
"Kiss me, Olivia."
It was as if the entirety of Olivia's feelings -all the months of longing, all the moments of friendship, all the arguments, all the emotion fraught looks - had been distilled, like a fine liquor, into this single kiss. Natalia could taste it: taste the desire and the yearning, the passion and, above all, the immense love, all coalesced into this soft, warm meeting of lips.
When Olivia raised her head, Natalia wrapped her arms even tighter around her waist and buried her face in the soft, unbelievably warm skin of her neck, drawing in a deep breath, inhaling the fragrance that was solely Olivia. Hands caressed along her back, and she felt the tender press of lips against the smooth skin along her hairline.
"Why were we worried about that again?" Natalia asked, her face still buried against the silken skin of Olivia's throat.
"We? Who's 'we', Kemosabe?" Olivia chuckled, the feel of the woman in her arms so overwhelming that only Natalia's body pressed tightly against her own kept her upright.
"Shut up and kiss me again," Natalia demanded, the intentional expression of resigned annoyance on her face doing nothing to hide the glow of adoration in her eyes. "Then we'll think of some way to help Reva."
"I thought no false alibis was one of the tenets of this bargain?" Olivia asked, her lips tracing a pattern over Natalia's eyelids and cheekbones and the rounded curve of her jaw line.
"No false alibis about you having sex with Reva in your office. I didn't say we shouldn't think of something else. I can't be this happy and know that she may be spending all of her son's childhood in prison," Natalia explained, her head tilting back at the feel of Olivia's lips on the tender skin of her throat.
"I love you," Olivia whispered against Natalia's cheek, her eyes closed as the enormity of her feelings threatened to short-circuit her brain.
"I love you, too, Olivia. I thought that you were supposed to be kissing me again? Don't tell me you forgot already?" Natalia laughed, her smile blissful as she met Olivia's eyes.
"You think you're funny, don't you?" Olivia challenged, her entire world reduced to this one small room and this woman in her arms.
"Yup," Natalia grinned, lost in the emerald sparkle of Olivia's eyes.
"Okay. So maybe you're a little funny. But not as funny as I am," Olivia began, only to be silenced by the tender press of Natalia's lips against her own.
"Olivia? Shut up."
"Shutting up. Bossy."
Burying her face in the thick, fragrant fall of dark hair, Olivia inhaled deeply. Tomorrow Olivia would have to figure out some sort of alibi for Reva. In an odd, wonderful way that Reva would never know or understand, Olivia owed her and Olivia Spencer always paid her debts.
The End