Somewhere Only We Know

Jeremy didn't see much of his girls for the next few weeks after that night. Olivia was experiencing some of her more severe symptoms, and Alexa would not leave her side. When Jeremy saw this, the image of Alexa wiping the sweat from Olivia's forehead with the back of her hand, he remembered nights when they'd been up with fevers, and Alexa had always been the one to comfort a fevered Olivia. He peeked into the room to see Alexa curled up beside their daughter, holding her tight after a long night of chills. And he remembered how amazing she'd been with Olivia when she got the flu very badly when she was only 3.
As the season wore on, August approached much faster than either of them had anticipated. And before any of them noticed, not only had Olivia made a complete physical recovery, but her mental health was improving as well, and not a moment too soon.
All of a sudden, she was bouncing around the house, watching movies with her parents, and talking to old friends, the ones who had been there for her at her worst.
On August 14th, Olivia stepped back outside into the fresh air for the first time in too long. As she bathed in the sunshine, she spread out her arms and embraced the air, closing her eyes like she was in some sort of music video. And as Jeremy watched her, he couldn't help but smile, and he decided to make an attempt at a normal, drama-free conversation with her once again.
"Feels nice, huh?" He asked her as they basked in the glow.
She smiled back at him and opened her eyes. "It's a little hot, but it's nice," she said.
"Want some ice cream?" he asked. "I've got some in the freezer. The good stuff. Cherry chocolate chip."
She smiled and sat on the garden bench. "I will expect a bowl with whipped cream and chocolate syrup," she smiled in her cheesy manner.
His wish was her command, as it had always been and would always be. He returned in moments with her order, and he sat beside her as they munched away from the same bowl.
"You could have just gotten your own, you know," she told him.
"I just want a couple bites."
"You've eaten half of it already!" she laughed. And as she did so, the tone of her voice struck Jeremy deeply, tearing at his heart. He had missed this.
"You've got a tattoo?" she asked as she noticed a little ink on his arm just under his left sleeve.
He looked down at it and rolled the sleeve back, showing it off. "It's the family crest," he smiled.
She looked at it closely as she finished off her bowl, and she looked back up at him in curiosity. "Did it hurt?"
"I don't remember it hurting," he answered. "I think it stung a little, maybe it was sore or a while afterward."
"I've always wanted to get one, but I wasn't ever really sure if it was a good idea or not. Do you ever regret it?"
"No, of course not," he smiled. "Family's family. I'm really proud of my heritage, and I don't regret it because it's a part of me I take pride in."
"I always wanted to get a line of roses on my lower back," she told him.
He was silent for a moment, wondering whether she was serious. "You really want to get one of those?"
"Why not? Because it's called a tramp stamp? Look, just because it has a bad rap doesn't mean it's wrong."
"Yeah, but you're just getting into your adulthood, and right now isn't the best time to make decisions like getting something permanently branded on your body."
She shook her head. "Agree to disagree," she said calmly.
He took her bowl from her. "I know we just had ice cream, but do you wanna go grab some lunch?"
"Mom wouldn't like this eating schedule," she said.
"Mom doesn't need to know about the ice cream," he winked.

The three of them went out to eat together for the first time in over a decade. They chose a small but highly underrated burger shop downtown, and as they left the car, they were pleased to see that they had gone relatively unnoticed. They sat back and relaxed, and as they waited for their orders to arrive, Olivia spoke up and broke the awkward silence.
"Look, Dad," she said pointing out the window to a small business across the street.
"The tattoo place?" he asked. "No."
"Come on, it'll be fun. You can come with me."
"What are you talking about?" Alexa asked, thoroughly confused.
"Someone wants to get a tattoo," Jeremy smiled as he nudged his head in Olivia's direction.
"Tattoo? No, Olivia. That's not a great idea."
"Oh come on, Mom. Most of my friends have them, Dad has one, you have one..."
"You have one?" Jeremy asked Alexa.
"Um..." she crossed her arms defensively, not that she needed to. "Yeah..."
"Really?" he asked the widest smile he'd sported in years beaming across his face as he leaned closer to her.
"Don't worry about it," Alexa answered, annoyed.
"Come on. Show me yours, I'll show you mine."
She smiled at him, but was obviously embarrassed. "Point is, you're not getting a tattoo, and that's final."
"When did you get it?" he asked, refusing to drop the subject.
Just then, their burgers arrived, and Alexa took the biggest possible bite so that she could avoid talking.
"It's under her left boob," Olivia giggled.
"No shit!" Jeremy almost shouted.
Alexa mumbled at them through a full mouth, angry and trying to tell Olivia to stop talking.
"It says, 'breathe,'" Olivia giggled again, loving the fun she could have with Jeremy at her mother's expense.
Jeremy's face became more serious instantly as he looked over at Alexa. "Really?" he asked.
She finally swallowed her food and looked back into his eyes. She simply nodded, knowing he was the only person who would understand just how important that word was to her. To them.
"So can I get a tattoo or what?" Olivia interrupted, oblivious to the connection between her parents.
"Not today," Jeremy told her.
They continued eating, with most of the burden of conversation falling on Olivia, who had no shortage of words. She talked about how she still fully intended on going to college in two weeks, and Jeremy and Alexa nodded along, hoping she could, but still worried about their girl who seemed to find ways to fall into trouble.
And as their meal ended, they stood together and headed for the door, suddenly noticing that the paparazzi had found them, and they pushed their way through the crowd of twenty strong.
It was an unusually strong group of photographers, but almost nothing surprised him anymore.
"Jeremy! Who are you with?"
"Who's your friend?"
Jeremy! Over here!"
"Jeremy! How's your daughter?"
Jeremy stopped dead in his tracks. He stared at the photographer who had posed that last question, and he looked him straight in the eye. Enraged, and rightly so, he pulled the camera out of his hand and threw it to the ground.
"Bro, you better pay for that!"
Jeremy reached into his pocket and grabbed as much spare cash as he had on hand, and he threw it in the photographer's general direction.
"You helping her through her drug problem?" Another asked.
He almost stopped and did the same to him, but he kept going, trying to reach his car as the photographers, as always, made it increasingly more difficult.
"Jeremy! Is this your baby mama?"
Jeremy held Alexa's hand, guiding her into the car as calmly as he could as he used every bit of focus in him to keep him from punching someone in the face. As he closed her door, he looked around him for Olivia, but she was nowhere in sight.
He searched through the crowd, but he couldn't see her. His eyes scanned for any trace of a freckled face or red hair, but she was nowhere to be seen.
"Liv!" he called. He hated having to use her name, but he had no choice.
"Hey!" One photographer got in his face. "You lose something?"
Jeremy almost shoved that one aside, but resisted, remembering the importance of keeping his cool.
"Liv!"
The members of the crowd began to look with him as they realized what he was doing. Soon, there were over a dozen of them, mostly complete strangers, calling the name of his daughter, looking for her.
Jeremy was running up and down the street, looking into store windows and passing cars, retracing their steps as he searched frantically. Alexa called the police as thy feared the worst - she had run away. They had no choice but to face the possibility that she had found an opportunity to ditch them and return to her old lifestyle. As hard as it was to believe, maybe she had just been lying the whole time, playing a part, acting as a character that would rival any performance her father had ever portrayed.
Nearly three hours had passed as Jeremy and Alexa sat at home with the police officers who took their statement. Unfortunately, they could not file a missing person's report, but they could recruit the help of the police to assist them in finding out who the photographers were, thus reviewing any possible footage that could show where Olivia had gone.
As they gave the details they heard the door, and looking that direction, witnessed Olivia smiling as she skipped through the entryway with a broad smile across her face.
"What's up with all the cops?" she asked.
Jeremy jumped up immediately and rushed beside her, holding her tight. "Where the hell have you been?" he asked.
Alexa joined him soon afterward. "You had us worried crazy!" she scolded before holding her daughter so tightly, they could hardly breathe. "Where were you?"
The police officers asked her if everything was alright, and when she answered that it was, Alexa and Jeremy apologized for their trouble and showed them out. Then, turning to Olivia, they returned to their question and waited as she answered.
"I was across the street from the restaurant," she said.
"What?' her parents asked in unison.
"Yeah, I took a taxi home," she said, not incredibly surprised they reacted so extremely. "What's the big deal?'
"The big deal is that we freaked out!" Alexa said. "We were looking for you everywhere!"
"We thought something really bad happened to you!" Jeremy told her.
As her eyes filled with tears, she reached for her parents as they sat next to each other and she took a hand from each of them into hers. "I'm sorry," she said.
"What were you doing?" Alexa asked.
"I - I got a tattoo," she hesitated to say.
Jeremy and Alexa looked at each other in disbelief, then back at Olivia. "I'm sorry... what?" Alexa said.
"We called the police, searched for you everywhere, started to feel like the worst people in the world for losing you!" Jeremy said. "And all because you wanted a stupid tramp stamp?"
"Tramp stamp?" Alexa reacted in disbelief.
"It's not a tramp stamp!" Olivia said as she pointed at the wrist bandage her parents had been too preoccupied to notice.
"What happened to your wrist?" Alexa asked.
"I got my tattoo there," she said as she unwrapped it.
"Olivia, we were scared out of our minds!" Jeremy told her. "You could have at least told us where you were going!"
"I wanted it to be a surprise," she frowned as she began to cry. She placed her wrist, palm side up, onto the coffee table that separated her from them as they sat together. "I'll have to get the detailing done later, but I got the basic stuff done."
Jeremy and Alexa were speechless as they looked at the small but familiar tattoo on her wrist. As she said, the detailing hadn't been finished, but it was clear by the coat of arms, the lion, and the name stamped inside it that it was, in fact, the same tattoo Jeremy wore on his arm - the family crest.
"I got it on my wrist so that every time I'm tempted to cut, I'll see that and remember what an amazing heritage I have. And I'll remember that my dad, who I didn't even know just a few months ago, gave me a whole new life." She looked over at Alexa. "And mom, I have plans for a tattoo in your honor, too, but I'll probably wait until this is finished."
Alexa wiped away a tear. Speechless, they sat there, looking at their daughter, a girl who had made the road of life both the most difficult and the most enjoyable time of their lives. And here she was before them, making a gesture that was, to her, the equality of pledging her undying love for the two people who had given her her life.
"Don't run off like that again," Jeremy finally said in a weakened tone.
"I won't. I promise."
She went up to her room to rest for a while, and after she was upstairs, Jeremy turned to Alexa and smiled sheepishly at her.
"We might have fucked up there," Alexa smiled at him.
"Yeah!" he laughed as he put his arm around her and she leaned into him, relieved that the ordeal for the day was over, and they could finally relax. "She's something, huh?"
"She really is!" Jeremy laughed. "She's just full of surprises!"
Alexa nodded and leaned in closer to him. She wouldn't admit it, but she missed this way she was able to melt into him, the way she had done so often before, the way she wanted to do every day for the rest of forever.
"And speaking of surprises," he said to her, "When did you get a tattoo?"
Her face, though hidden from him at the moment, turned red in embarrassment. "About a month after you left," she answered.
"Can I see it?"
She looked up at him and grinned. "Not sure that's the best idea," she said.
"Oh, come on. It's not like I haven't seen your body a million times before. You've got nothing to be ashamed of."
She looked toward the stairs to be sure Olivia's door was closed, then led Jeremy into her bedroom. "You promise you won't judge me?"
"I promise," he smiled.
She removed her shirt and raised her arms, crossing them behind her head as he took a look at it.

Breathe.

He was silent, and this made Alexa wonder what his opinion of it was, not that she should care. But of course she did.
"Why did you get it?"
"You brought Olivia to life with those words," she said. "And you whispered them to me so many times. And after you left, I had to say that to myself over and over and over - "
He grabbed her as she spoke and he pressed her close to him, his lips placing themselves over hers, remembering the familiar territory from so long ago. His hands began on her hips, flowed over her sides and ended in her hair, and he kissed her with a fire and passion he hadn't felt in years. She returned his kisses, every single one of them, and stood with him there for several minutes, feeling everything in her body tell her this was right. This was where she belonged. This was home. Home was not a house or a city, but here, here in the arms of the man she had loved forever.
As he finally released his hold, he licked his lips, savoring the taste she had left there. "I'm sorry," he said. "I should probably go back out there."
"Not just yet," Alexa answered as she placed another kiss on his lips.
His eyes stared into hers as he held on to her again and she led him over to the bed. "Not just yet," he replied.