DISCLAIMER: Guiding Light and its characters are the property of Proctor & Gamble. No infringement intended.
SPOILERS: Pretty non-existing. The story assumes canon up to June 15th, 2009 happened, but then veers of into its own little AU.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Drowning Out the Noise
By Tinna Karen
Rafe opened the door to his home and stepped in, hoping to find the smell of something cooking in the kitchen. He took a quick whiff and frowned. Nada. The only thing he could smell was the lasting effect of an apple-cinnamon scented candle that had been snuffed out hours ago, and a faint, slightly musky scent that hung in the air. What is that? And why is it so hot in here? He decided to leave the door open to let in some fresh air while he hung up his jacket and then walked across the living room to the kitchen to look for the other occupants in the house."Hey, ma? Olivia?"
There was no one in the kitchen, and he couldn't hear any noise coming from upstairs. Huh. He had come home a little early from work because the store was closed today for inventory count, and it hadn't taken as long as he expected, but still, it was 3 PM on a Sunday, usually somebody was home. Plus, Olivia's car was parked outside. Maybe they took a walk or something.
He opened the fridge to look for some snacks. Five minutes later he walked back into the living room with a homemade sandwich and a glass of milk and sat in front of the TV. He channel surfed for a bit before deciding on a Top Gear re-run.
About 10 minutes into the show he heard a faint thud coming from upstairs, and his eyes moved to the ceiling. He lowered the volume on the TV to hear better. He waited for full five seconds but couldn't hear anything more, so he turned the volume back up and continued watching. Five minutes passed before he heard another thud, and what sounded like an 'oomph'. His curiosity peaked, he walked up the stairs to go check it out. On the third step, he turned quickly back, grabbed his baseball bat from the wardrobe just in case, and moved slowly back up the stairs. When he reached the landing he heard a muffled voice from his mom's bedroom and recognizing it immediately as Olivia's he sighed and lowered the baseball bat. He was about to knock on the door when he heard his mom's voice, but it sounded a lot different then he was used to. It was lower and ... Is she moan... he couldn't finish his thought. Fuck! He turned quickly on his heels and practically ran down the stairs, his hands covering his ears. No no no no no no!
Olivia stopped what she was doing and lifted her head, "did you hear something?"
"Olivia!" Natalia complained, and lifted her hips, bumping into Olivia's nose.
"Oh, right... sorry honey," Olivia apologized and resumed her position.
Rafe ran quickly downstairs and towards the wardrobe. He was planning on getting the hell out of the house when Emma walked in through the open door, looking a little sullen. "Why's the door open," she said to herself as she walked in, then she saw her brother putting his jacket on, "Oh, hey Rafe, why are you home?" she said as she started up the stairs.
"I finished work early," he explained, "hey! whoa, where are you going?"
"Uh, hello, upstairs to my room," she said matter-of-factly, and continued.
"No wait!" Rafe hissed. He grabbed her around the waist and swung her around.
Emma whined, "hey, let me go!" Rafe put her down and stood between her and the stairs. "I wanna go upstairs and play on the Wii," she complained.
"What? Wouldn't you rather be outside in this weather? It's all sunny and warm, and you know, the ducks are like right there," he tried to distract her, and pointed outside, not so subtlety trying to push her towards the door.
"No, outside is stupid," she grumbled and spun away from him, heading back upstairs.
He blocked her entrance again and shook his head, "you can't go upstairs...not right now."
"Why not?"
"You just can't."
"But I want to."
"But you can't."
"Why not?"
"You just can't Emma."
"But I want to Rafe!"
"Emma..."
"Rafe..."
"Oh Olivia!"
Rafe cringed and closed his eyes.
"What was that?" Emma asked, and looked upstairs. "Is ma home?"
Rafe's eyes were still closed as he nodded. "I wanna see her, I need to tell her what Jodie did."
"Oh, now is not a good time for that Em. Please, let's just go outside. We can get ice cream. I know how much you like ice cream. Wouldn't that be fun?"
"I hate ice cream. And I hate Jodie and I want to talk to mommy!" Emma almost yelled.
"Aw, munchkin," Rafe said and picked up Emma, "trust me, ma and Olivia are a little busy right now, but you can always talk to me." He walked them both towards the couch and sat down, Emma sitting in his lap. "Come on, we'll watch some TV and eat some popcorn and you can tell me. If anyone was mean to you you just have to let me know and I'll protect you. I am your big brother, after all."
"Really?"
"Really, really."
Emma nodded and hugged Rafe. She was about to tell him what happened when they heard more noises from their mothers. "What are they doing up there?"
Rafe turned the volume on the TV a little higher. "Trust me Em, you don't wanna know."
"That was freakin' amazing," Olivia said and burrowed deeper into Natalia. "I love it when no one is home. You're so ... unreserved ... when it's just the two of us," she quipped and was nudged in the stomach by Natalia's thigh in response.
"I don't think," Natalia took a deep breath, "you can attribute that with no one being home ... that was all you and your relentless tongue."
Olivia grinned, feeling more than a little proud. "And stop grinning," Natalia said knowingly, even though her eyes were closed and Olivia's head was actually resting on her stomach so she couldn't see her grin.
"How did you know I was grinning?"
"'Cause I know you, and I can feel it on my tummy."
"Oh really?" Olivia lifted her head, "can you feel this?"
Natalia felt a soft kiss above her belly button, "yup."
"How about this?" Another kiss above her heart.
Natalia nodded.
"And this?" Olivia blew softly over Natalia's right nipple.
"Oh yes," Natalia quickly pulled Olivia up and then spun them around, so that Olivia was lying beneath her. "I can feel you everywhere," she breathed, and kissed Olivia lightly on the mouth, "and I can feel," she emphasized with a touch of her hand, "that you are so ready for me."
"...and then Jodie pushed me, and I fell off the couch! Can you believe that? Just 'cause I'm better than she is in Guitar Hero!"
"What? Well that's just silly. I can't imagine anyone wanting to push you... you're so cute and cuddly," Rafe joked and tickled Emma until she was laughing and squirming so much she almost fell off the couch. Again. "Okay, I'll stop," he said and pulled her further into the couch, "we wouldn't want you to fall out off this couch too. You'd get a couch complex. You'd be afraid to sit on any couch ever again from fear of falling! They'd have to name a whole new disease because of you. It would be the 'emmacouchtigo', and then someone will write a book about it, and then a movie will be made out of the book starring Miley Cyrus and it would be called 'Why is everyone standing around?' and..." Emma stopped laughing and Rafe sighed, leaned towards the coffee table and increased the volume on the TV.
"They sure can talk a lot," Emma said quietly and reached for more popcorn.
"Yup."
Somewhere in her sex-fuddled brain, and in-between kisses and her wrist straining against Olivia, Natalia started hearing low voices. What is that? There was also music and sound effects, like explosions, and... Am I going insane? It's like a movie in my head. But then Olivia moaned loudly in her ear and the noises went away. Natalia was able to focus again on Olivia who was sitting in her lap and moving against her hand, her lover's breasts bouncing in front of her eyes as Olivia leaned back on her hands, digging them into the mattress for balance, as she used her hips to ride Natalia's fingers. Oh wow.
But then the noises came back, louder this time, more distinct, and Natalia knew. It's the TV. Someone is downstairs. "Oh my god."
"Oh yeah," Olivia answered and ground down harder.
"No, Olivia, wait.. there's..." Olivia pushed up and wrapped both arms around her shoulders, pulling her close and silencing her with rapid kisses, "can't wait... oh god, so close...", and all Natalia could do was continue. Olivia moaned louder and louder, the noises from the TV became louder and louder and even if Natalia knew she should be feeling embarrassed right now, the need to make Olivia come spurred her on. Her brain was busy figuring out who was downstairs, but her body and fingers and mouth moved with practiced ease and pure instinct and she couldn't stop.
It wasn't until after Olivia called out her name and started convulsing around her fingers and finally collapsing on top of her, that Natalia started wondering again. Emma is supposed to be at Jodie's and Rafe at work... I know we locked both doors...so that means...
"Huh," Olivia said a few minutes later. "Did we leave the TV on?"
Natalia shook her head, "nope."
"So that means..."
Natalia nodded.
"Oh."
About thirty minutes, two showers and a lot of silent looks later, Olivia and Natalia walked quietly down the stairs. The TV was back to normal volume strength and Rafe and Emma sat cuddled together on the couch eating ice cream and watching Spongebob.
"I thought you were at work?"
"I thought you were at Jodie's?"
Both children looked up at their respective parents, "I came home early," they answered at the same time.
"When?" Natalia asked.
Rafe shrugged, "two hours maybe."
Natalia gasped and felt her face heat up, and walked quickly to the kitchen. Olivia stood still alternating her gaze at Rafe and Emma and the kitchen before giving into her need to comfort Natalia.
She found Natalia sitting by the kitchen table with both hands covering her face and quietly mumbling to herself. Olivia pulled up a chair and sat next Natalia, and maneuvered her slowly into a hug.
"I'm so embarrassed. There is absolutely no way they didn't hear us," Natalia said quietly.
"I know."
"And that doesn't bother you?"
"Eh," Olivia shrugged, causing Natalia to look into her eyes. She lifted an eyebrow. "Are you serious?"
"Okay, maybe a little," Olivia admitted. "But it's not a big deal... so what? They heard a couple of muffled moans?"
"There were more than just a couple." Natalia pointed out.
"Maybe so, but if you ask me, honestly... I'd rather that my kids know that I'm madly in love with their other mother, instead of thinking that we don't love each other."
"Why would they think that?"
Olivia was quiet for a moment, "I don't know."
"Olivia...you wouldn't have said it if you didn't have some idea."
"Ok fine. I just...uh, I mean we..." Olivia sighed, "we're trying to be so careful around them, you know, they've never even seen us kiss, and maybe..."
"Maybe what?"
"Maybe, they think that we're just not the kind of couple that kiss and stuff. And some people might think that we don't love each other as much as we claim to, that our relationship is just, you know, emotional and not physical."
"What people? We're talking about Rafe and Emma here."
"People in this town talk Natalia. Rafe and Emma could accidentally be around to hear that. I don't want them or anyone else to think that I'm just, I don't know, biding my time here until someone better comes along."
"They don't think that. Nobody thinks that. You love me. It's as clear as day."
"To you maybe, but not to other people. What do they see? We hold hands, we sit close, we hug... we don't kiss."
Natalia sat back in her chair and bit her lower lip. "Is this your way of saying that you want more public displays of affection?"
"Oh yes please! I'm so ready for public displays of affection. I want to kiss you during lunch at Company and make out in the elevator at Towers and..." Olivia leaned closer so she could whisper into Natalia's ear, "I really, really want to make love to you in the gazebo at the park, at night, under the moonlight..."
Natalia drew in a sharp breath. "Oh god, Olivia, that's so..."
"What?"
Before Olivia knew what was happening Natalia had climbed into her lap and was kissing her with abandon. It was only when their combined weight made the chair fall backwards that Natalia thought that maybe this hadn't been her best idea.
An hour later the entire family was sitting by the kitchen table having dinner. Natalia, Olivia and Rafe were quietly eating and pointedly avoiding making eye contact with each other. Emma sat wide eyed and curious, unable to decide where to look. Her gaze shifted between the other three occupants in the room. Finally she couldn't take it anymore. Her gaze landed on Natalia. "How did the chair break?"
"Uhm," Natalia grabbed her glass of water and took a sip, a long sip, she completely finished the glass, and stood up from the table, "one second, I'm just going to..." she pointed at the glass, and walked towards the fridge to refill it.
"Mom?" Emma asked instead.
"Yes, jellybean?"
"How did it break?" Rafe looked up at Olivia with a knowing grin.
"Oh, it fell, backwards." Olivia explained, hoping that was enough. It wasn't.
"Why did it fall backwards?"
"Something to do with too much weight and gravity and physics..."
"It was physical, alright." Rafe quipped, and looked back down at his plate.
Natalia sat back down, and quickly kicked her son under the table.
"Ma!" Rafe laughed, and he kicked her back.
"Rafe! How could you? I'm your mother!" she said with grin, and kicked him back.
"Hey, you kicked me first!" he said, and retaliated by throwing a piece of broccoli at her.
Natalia gasped, "oh no you didn't!" She threw the broccoli back at him. "Here, you dropped this."
Rafe filled his spoon with mashed potatoes and launched it at his mother. It landed with a splat in her face.
"Rafe!"
Olivia and Emma burst out laughing. "Oh you think this is funny?" Natalia laughed, and filled both hands with rice and launched it at the two of them.
Olivia and Emma looked at each other, both arching an eyebrow and grinning, and then threw their own rice back at Natalia. And then all hell broke loose. Broccoli, chicken, rice and mashed potato was tossed in every direction, even some spoon launched gravy was flung around and then the water fight started and before they knew it the kitchen was a gooey mess. Emma was chasing Rafe around the table, throwing chunks of mashed potatoes at him and Olivia and Natalia had somehow ended on the floor after slipping on the wet surface and were wrestling and trying to stuff rice down each others shirt.
Natalia had managed to pin Olivia's arms above her head and smiled brightly down at her. "You're a mess." Pieces of rice were stuck to Olivia's face and you could see chunks of potatoes and a little gravy in her hair.
"You don't look so hot yourself." Olivia said as she wriggled and tried to get loose.
Natalia glanced up to see where Emma and Rafe were and saw them behind her, busy trying to smear brown gravy in each other faces. She looked back down at Olivia.
"Actually," she whispered, and moved closer, releasing Olivia's arms, "all your moving beneath me is making me kinda hot."
"Is that so?"
Natalia nodded, then leaned down and kissed Olivia. She kept the kiss chaste, knowing that they weren't alone, but it was still just as wonderful as their other kisses, and filled her heart with love. "I love you," she whispered when she pulled back.
Olivia nodded, and swallowed back the lump in her throat. Natalia had just unabashedly kissed her in front of their kids. Life was good. She smiled back, "I love you too, so much."
"We love you too!" Emma said giggling above them.
Olivia and Natalia both looked up, "no wait!" and their eyes went wide as a whole bucket of water was tossed over them.
"Emma!" Olivia splurted, "you are in so much trouble!"
The End