THIRTEEN (from “Our Time in Eden”)
Start Date: 06/15/2004
Completion: 01/09/2005
Rating: R
Knocking, but not waiting for an answer, Livvie stormed into Alexis’s room, “What did you say to Mother to make her so mad?”
The older girl patted the spot next to her, “Livvie, come here, I’ve got something bad to tell you.”
The young brunette sat down, and gave her sister a ‘what’s your problem’ look, but she remained silent.
“It’s gonna hurt, a whole lot.”
“Would you just cut to the chase and tell me?”
“Mother loves Mommy more than she loves us,” Alexis sobbed. “She told me so.”
“Yeah?” Livvie responded, unfazed. “What’s the bad stuff you want to tell me.”
“That’s it. That’s the bad news.”
“Jesus, Alexis. If you think this is bad, I’m going to devastate your world.”
“What?” She asked, shocked. Things couldn’t possibly be worse than they already were.
“Mommy loves Mother more than us, too.”
“No.” The blonde wailed, big tears trickling down her cheeks.
“Yes. If all four of us were on a boat, and it sinks, you better hope there are more than two life jackets.”
“But we’re the only kids they’ve got.”
“But they can make more.”
“They’re old.”
“They’re not that old.” Livvie rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. Must her older sister act like such a child sometimes? Make that always? “Trust me, they’re going to be sad for a while, but nobody’s going to die of grief.”
“You mean they don’t love us?”
She looked at Alexis and shook her head. “They’re suppose love each other more. One day we’ll grow up and leave, and it’ll just be them. It’s the way it’s supposed to be, stupid.”
“I’m not stupid.”
Alexis was definitely testing her patience. “If you think they don’t love us, you are!”
“They have a funny way of showing it.”
“God, you’re so stupid. Why am I wasting my time with you?” Livvie got up in a huff and headed towards the door. “We’re here because they love each other. If you’re too stupid to realize that, it’s not my problem. You’re on your own,” she said and pulled on the handle.
Bawling, Alexis pleaded, “Livvie, please don’t leave? You’re all I’ve got!”
The young brunette looked skywards, and asked aloud, “Why me?” Sighing, she turned around, sat down on the bed once more, and held her sister while she cried.
Meanwhile, on the third floor, another melodrama was playing out…
“Alexis hates me, she called me a bitch. And I hit her.” Alex kept repeating the facts.
“Sweetheart, if she hates you, she hates me worse, more, whatever.” Despite herself, Olivia tried to reason with her wife. “She called me a bitch, too. And I hit her twice.”
“You hit our baby twice?”
Suddenly, the brunette found herself in trouble. “Yeah? She called you a bitch to my face, twice; and then she called me one, too. I’m not going to tolerate that kind of disrespect in my house, our house.”
Alex sobbed against her partner’s shoulder, “I’m such a terrible mother. What have I done wrong?”
Olivia sighed. “Nothing.”
“What do you mean nothing?” Her partner must be out of her mind, she thought. “I should have stayed home with her. Maybe we gave her too many things and not enough attention.”
“She had Edith 24/7, and she had us more than we had our parents.”
“Edith is wonderful, but she’s not their mother, I am.” In response to a raised eyebrow, she added, “And you, you are, too. What’s wrong with us?”
Us? “There’s nothing wrong with us as parents, Sweetheart.” She tried to wipe away the falling moisture with her thumbs. Failing, she hugged the slender frame close. “Besides, Edith raised you, and you turned out all right. Livvie is perfectly well behaved.”
“Livvie’s not thirteen.”
Olivia sighed again, resisting the urge to bang her head against the headboard. “No, she’s 10 going on 40.”
“What have we done wrong? I’m a failure as a mother.” Alex snuffled.
“No, Sweetheart, you’re not…”
“Does it really matter what she calls us, Liv?” She looked for agreement in the dark brown eyes. “As long as it’s done with respect?”
“I’m not hearing this. I’m can’t believe I’m hearing this.” The brunette shook her head, and repeated again for emphasis. “I’m so not hearing this.”
“Why not?”
“My proper girl is going to condone our daughters calling us by our first names?” Olivia asked, in utter disbelief. “You wouldn’t let me call your mother by her first name until she sat us down when Alexis was one, and told me we’re passed the Mrs. Cabot stage. Remember?”
Not expecting her partner to recall this particular detail, Alex blushed. Nevertheless, she defended her idea. “So? What does that have to do with Alexis calling us by our names? She has a point, her friend’s parents…”
“Heather’s parents… We’re not Heather’s parents.” She argued, “Can you imagine what your mother would do to you if you called her Celine? Now? Even at your age?”
“My age? What about you! You’re old!”
“Yes, and by default, I know better.”
“Not that much better.”
“Still, can you imagine what your mom would say?”
Stopping finally to think, Alex cringed, then shuddered. “Okay, so maybe it wasn’t such a great idea.”
“Alex, we haven’t done anything wrong.” The brunette kissed her wife until the tears stopped, and a smile surfaced. Finally, Olivia could breath again; to mask a silent sigh, she chuckled.
“What’s so funny?”
“As far as rebellious teens go, Alexis paled in comparison to me. I'm sure I’m just getting back what I gave my mother.”
“You were so bad that your mother slapped you, too?”
“No, she never hit me. But she probably should have.”
At least not when she was sober and Olivia was misbehaving. Easily, Alex saw through her partner's automatic attempt to protect her. Or maybe Olivia had finally let go of her anger towards the past. Instead of calling her on it, fair brows went up in amusement. “What did you do?”
“Let’s not give anybody any ideas.”
“You’re not going to tell me are you?”
“Not now.” Olivia nuzzled in and touched their lips together. Moving their bodies closer, she whispered, “I’d rather tell you other things.”
“Like what?”
“Like how beautiful you are.”
“Right.” Alex smiled, nipping her partner’s lips lightly. “I look like Bobby Blowfish.”
“When I look at you, my heart beats faster.” Just to show her wife, the brunette pressed the slender hand to her chest.
She swallowed hard. “Yeah, probably because the way I look scares the hell out of you.”
“Seeing you unhappy scares the hell out of me.”
Leaning over, Alex gave Olivia a soft kiss, and played with her shirt buttons. “Why is that?”
“When you cry, my world falls apart.”
“Oh, like this?” The blonde grinned as her partner’s top came undone, as she pushed the material off the broad shoulders.
“No. I can always rebutton my shirt.” She smiled gently, seriously. “But I’m afraid I’ll never be able to make you happy again.”
“You, are so full of mush.” Alex sighed as large hands slipped under her shirt. She arched, trembling, as gentle fingers squeezed the points of her breasts. “You always know how to make me happy.”
“Are you?”
“What? Happy? With you, always.” She kissed Olivia again, feeling the heat rage within her, and controlling it, for the moment. “How long is she grounded.”
The brunette closed her eyes to the deep, hypnotic voice caressing her throat. “For the rest of her natural life.”
“How about a plea bargain?”
“I’m just the arresting officer. You’re the defense attorney.” She whimpered, letting Alex pick the pace. “Or, if you’re wearing your old ADA hat, I have a confession to make.”
“Yeah? What?”
“I used excessive force.” She whimpered again, when hot lips pulled away from her skin. Opening her eyes, she find Alex looking back, as if she was contemplating what punishment to exact. “Then again, maybe you should wear your judge’s hat.”
“What you did was very serious.” Alex smiled, and pushed her partner onto her back, peeling her pants and underwear off in a swift motion.
Olivia sighed. Guess she’d have to wait her turn. “You know, Alex.” She said, resisting the urge to pull her wife down, and stared as pink satin slid off creamy skin. “We’re gonna have to decide what to do about Alexis.”
“That’s very true.” The blonde smiled, seductively, mischievously, and glided up her partner’s body. She gazed deeply down the cocoa brown eyes. “But right now…” She said hoarsely, then leaned back, and ran her hands over her own breasts, cupping, fondling them, the way Olivia loved. “You need to plead your case to the judge.”
She breathed in her wife’s arousal. “I fall on the mercy of the court.” She grinned, gripping Alex’s hips, pulling her down…
Very quietly, Livvie peeled her ear from the door, and slipped back downstairs…
“What’s going on?” Alexis fretted, her eyes still sparkling with tears.
“You made Mommy cry.”
“Is Mother gonna kill me?”
“They haven’t decided what to do to you yet.” Livvie leaned against the desk and crossed her arms. “But I don’t think capital punishment is involved.”
“Thank god.” Alexis sighed her relief, and blew her nose.
“Did I hear right?” The young brunette demanded. “You were going call our mothers Jaime and Olivia? Are you just stupid?”
“Hey! I don’t have to take this from you!” Flopping backwards into her bed, she sighed, melodramatically. “Even though you’re the only person I’ve got in this world.”
She refused to let her sister off the hook. “You really are stupid, aren’t you?”
“We just have fuddy-duds for parents. Whereas, Heather’s family is enlightened..”
“Being a fuddy-dud seems to work in this house.”
“You agree then, Livvie?”
“What?”
“That Mommy and Mother are fuddy-duds.”
“I never said that, Alexis! You’re not going to get me in trouble, too!”