Burn Us Down

“Aren’t you going to eat something?”

Olivia blinked a couple of times, glancing across the table towards her uncle who was watching her, his head tilted to one side. She hadn’t touched the plate of food in front of her. The smell of the food had bought about a rolling discomfort in the pit of her stomach that had prevented her from so much as picking up a fork to poke at it, but she hadn’t thought that either William or Thea would notice. They insisted she eat with them. Despite them both knowing that she had merely used their home in Alicante as an excuse to be out of Barcelona, William and Thea were keen to spend time with her, but they also knew not to press. She talked when she wanted to talk, and they were both more than happy to be a sounding board for her when she did.

“It’s good” William continued “I mean, I might not do it professionally like you do, but I know my way around a kitchen. Tell her how good it is, Thea” he added, sparing a playful grin towards his wife.

Thea, who’d been studying their neice, returned his smile softly. “It’s good” she mused “But I think it might be a little much for Olivia right now. Don’t you remember how easily you set off my morning sickness when I was pregnant?” she asked.

Olivia, who’d been sipping on her glass of water, choked. “What?” she managed to splutter out between coughs.

Thea’s eyes widened a little. “You’re not…I thought you just hadn’t told us” she babbled.

Olivia opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to get some kind of denial out, but the longer the thought lingered in her mind, the more it started to make sense. There had been a series of little signs, her sudden aversion to foods she’d always loved, a strange sensation when she’d put on a bra she’d favoured for a long time, but she had dismissed them, putting everything down to the stress that she found herself under. She had been unsettled since she had arrived in Alicante. The situation with Gerard had, inevitably, plagued her mind, and she had simply put all of the little discomforts on that. She was away from home, she was stressed, and despite her best efforts, she missed the defender.

“Olivia?”

Olivia blinked, breaking out of her thoughts to look up into the concerned faces of her aunt and uncle. “I…” she breathed out “I…I need to…” she added, hoping that her aunt would be able to guess what the end of the sentence was. She couldn’t quite get the words ‘I need to take a pregnancy test’ out.

Thea reached across the table, squeezing her hand softly as she offered her a gentle smile. “You need to take a test?” she asked.

Olivia nodded wordlessly.

“I can go and get a couple” William offered, pushing his seat back.

“You don’t have to do that” Olivia replied quietly.

William smiled down at her. “Let me be useful, Oli” he chirped “I mean, my food almost made you vomit. I’m trying to make it up to you” he added impishly.

Olivia smiled despite herself. “Thank you, Uncle William” she said softly.

William offered her a playful little salute as he wandered towards the front door, stopping only to collect his wallet and keys before he stepped outside. Olivia listened for the sound of the door closing before she turned towards her aunt, something which caused Thea to stand up without a word, wrapping her in a tight hug. Olivia didn’t hesitate in returning it, grateful that there was someone around to try and comfort her.

~#~
“You Ok in there, Olivia?”

Olivia, who’d been intently watching the timer on her phone, looked up at the closed bathroom door before she sighed. She knew that her aunt and uncle were just trying to help. William’s warm smiles and Thea’s hugs which had littered the last hour or so had all been aimed at trying to ease some of the nerves that Olivia felt at the prospect of seeing a positive test result, but she had insisted that she do the test alone.

She knew that it would change things. Regardless of their relationship status, if she was pregnant, then she and Gerard were going to be in each other’s lives forever, and she knew that her being pregnant, if she was, would force her back to Barcelona quicker than she had hoped for. They would have to talk. She would have to insist that her being pregnant wasn’t an excuse for them to get back together, but was a reason for them to try and, at the very least, get onto civil terms, and it scared her. She had thought that things would be on her terms, that she could take her time in Alicante and then go back to Barcelona when she was ready, but she knew a positive result changed things. Whatever was going on between her and Gerard, they had found the time to potentially make a baby and they both had to be involved with it going forwards.

“I’m fine, Aunt Thea” Olivia called.

“We’re out here if you need us” Thea called back.

Olivia nodded to herself. “I know” she replied “Thank you” she added softly.

Thea said something else, but it was muffled as she padded away from the bathroom door, so Olivia didn’t say anything else. Instead, she sat in silence, watching the seconds tick away before her phone let out a little chirp. Picking the phone up, she silenced it and stuffed it into the pocket of her shorts before she tentatively pushed herself up to her feet, walking towards the two tests which were perched on the countertop. Taking in a breath, she closed her eyes for a second, before she reached out, turning the two of them over. Allowing her eyes to flutter open, she did nothing but stare at them for a few long seconds before she stumbled back towards the closed toilet, perching on the lid that she had sat on throughout the duration of her waiting.

Her eyes didn’t move from the counter for a couple of minutes. The image of the tests, the word ‘pregnant’ unmistakably written across them, was impossible to shake, but after a couple of minutes, she tentatively touched the tips of her fingers to her stomach, the barest hint of a smile quirking the corner of her mouth upwards. “I need to talk to your papa, baby” she whispered softly.

Allowing her touch to linger, she closed her eyes for a few seconds, before she slipped her phone out of her pocket. Blinking her eyes open again, she scrolled down towards Gerard’s name before she typed a new message, telling him that she needed to speak to him before she attached Thea’s address. As much as she knew she needed to talk to him, she wasn’t quite ready to go back to Barcelona yet.