Chapter 11:
'Linger'
Dean had arrived at exactly twelve-thirty. He was on the dot, not twelve-thirty one, and not a second late. And Olivia was ready, yet not at all ready. Dean opened the door quietly and stepped in, noticing how tidy her living room was. She only cleaned when she was nervous, upset, or trying to avoid something. The last time her living room had been this clean was when her and Simon had an argument. That week hadn’t been one of Olivia’s best; she had been cross with almost every single person who had engaged her in conversation and Dean had finally had enough of her stubbornness when she refused to be the one who would patch things up, so he had taken the initiative and called Simon, refusing to hang up until the brother reconciled with his sister. Sure enough, a week later, Olivia was her up beat and sarcastic self again, much to Dean’s pleasure-in fact, everyone’s pleasure. Dean dropped his keys on the small table by the door and walked in hesitantly, looking for Olivia.
“Liv?” he called.
Dean heard a noise coming from the bedroom, someone moving things about, and he heading in that direction, his steps slow and cautious. He slowly opened the door upon reaching it and took in the sight of the very un-tidy room. It looked nothing like the rest of the home, there were clothes strew around the floor, drawers opened, clutter everywhere. Dean stepped over a very big pile of thrown clothing and looked around the room slightly…scared at what might pop out at him. Suddenly he heard movement and looked up to see Olivia standing before him; clad in only dark blue jeans, her bra, and the necklace Dean had given to her for Christmas-its silver shine sparkling in the light. At first he noticed her lack of clothes, but then disregarded that as he focused on her quite distressed face.
“Liv, you okay?” he asked softly as he walked further into the room and closer to her.
But, she did not answer, just simply threw her arms into the air in an act of surrender and walked back toward the small closet. As he swiftly walked more to where she was he heard distinct mumbling and cursing being thrown left and right. She hurriedly walked past him, still clad in her bra and turned to face him.
“Of course I’m not okay! I can’t find my purple shirt that I wanted to wear today, I washed it just so I could wear it, but now it’s gone! And I can’t find the damn thing! And, no, I don’t want another shirt, I want that shirt Dean.”
He stood speechless, unable to speak, just stood there staring at her. She sighed and bobbed her head down in frustration and embarrassment.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
She was about to say something else, but was stopped when she heard laughing. Laughing, very loud laughing, and then coughing and she looked over to see Dean doubled over having a coughing fit as he tried to catch his breath.
“What the hell is so funny?” she demanded.
He finally managed to sort himself out and sputtered out his words in fragmented breaths.
“Took it to the dry cleaner’s….left you a voice message…need to start checking your answering machine…” and then the laughing started again.
“Dean stop it! It’s not that funny…okay so it’s a little funny. Where is it? I’d like to be at your mum’s house on time.”
He was still slightly chuckling as he went into the bathroom they shared and came back with the shirt, wrapped in a see through bag. She sighed heavily and smiled, quickly snatching the shirt from him and put it over her head.
“Your too good to me, you know that right?”
He just smiled, gathered his coat off of the bed and led her out the door.
The car ride was spent in silence, fidgeting, and nervous tapping of the foot; all of which were by Olivia. Dean turned his head slightly to look at her only to find her staring out the window, hands wringing in her lap, and foot tapping on the floor.
“Liv…are you…okay? You seem a little anxious.” He asked her, concerned.
She turned toward him, her lips telling a lie, but her eyes revealing the truth.
“I’m fine.” She simply stated.
“Look Liv, if you’re not ready…or don’t want to meet my mum and siblings…that’s fine. I mean I don’t want to pressure you into anything…” he rambled.
She placed a comforting hand on his leg, which was now jittering, and replied:
“Dean, I’m meeting my boyfriend’s mum and his sisters, I’m a little nervous. It’s nothing to worry about, okay?”
He sighed, relieved, and covered her hand in his; joining them together.
“They’re gonna love you Liv, I’m sure. My sisters can be a little eccentric, but they’re great…so are their kids. ”
“Ahh, so you’re Uncle Dean huh?”
He chuckled lowly, a tiny blush spreading onto his cheeks.
“Yeah, Laura has a daughter with her husband Nicolas; they have twin daughters; Novalee and Elizabeth. And my other sister Isabelle has a daughter with her husband Mick, their daughter’s name is Emilia.” He said a wide smile on his face.
“You get to see ‘em a lot?”
He frowned slightly and looked at her, and then turned his gaze back to the road.
“Not as much as I’d like to. Isabelle and Mick live in London, and Laura and Nic live in California. My mum live in the States though, but she travels a lot, and only comes here every other month.”
“What does your mother do?”
“She’s an Archaeologist, been doin’ that since I could remember. She used to tell me stories about what she would find; it’s nice to hear her talk about it sometimes.”
She smiled at him. Maybe she was just fretting over nothing.
Dean had just pulled up into a well kept house on a corner and from her window Olivia could see a woman walking toward the door and walking outside, a humble smile on her face. Dean got out, as well as Olivia, and immediately went up to the short woman and hugged her. Dean pulled back from the woman and her eyes went to Olivia instantly. Dean turned toward Olivia and gestured for her to come toward them. She hesitantly walked forward, until she was standing next to Dean and in front of the woman. She was a tad shorter than Olivia with salt and pepper hair, organized neatly into a tight bun. Her eyes were bright green, and her complexion was tan (most likely due to spending her time outside). She smiled brightly at Olivia, as Dean introduced the two.
“Ma this is Olivia, Liv this is my mum, Catherine.”
Olivia smiled sweetly at Catherine as she politely shook her hand.
“It’s very nice to finally meet you Olivia; Dean has told me so much about you.”
Olivia laughed and turned her head to look at Dean, only to find him blushing immensely.
“Only good things I swear Liv.” Dean said.
“It’s very nice to meet you too.” Olivia replied back to Catherine.
“Well come on inside, the gang’s all here.”
Dean smiled at Olivia as he led Olivia into the cream colored house, following his mother along the way.
As soon as they entered the doorway Olivia was surprised as a tiny gust of child bounded her way to them.
“Uncle D! Uncle D!” the little girl shouted.
“Hey Em!” Dean replied happily at the small girl. He scooped her up and hugged her warmly. The little girl giggled happily. Dean set the girl down and Olivia finally got a chance to look at her. She was a very cute little girl; light brown hair with soft curls that bounced when she walked, surprisingly bright blue eyes that popped out in a crowd, she smiled brightly and curiously at Olivia, obviously not afraid of strangers.
“Emilia what did I tell you about running?” a voice cam from the living room.
“But mommy Uncle D and his pretty girlfriend are here!” the girl, Emilia, shouted back at her mother.
Dean, and Olivia, both blushed at Emilia response and Olivia turned to look at Dean and he shrugged.
“Uncle D?” she whispered.
“Yeah, well its better than Uncle ‘De-De’.” He said with a horror stricken face.
Olivia felt a slight tug on her pant leg and looked down and the blue eyes of Emilia.
“Hi! I'm Emilia. What’s your name? Are you my uncle’s girlfriend? You’re pretty!” Emilia rambled.
Olivia was taken aback at the young girls’ ability to shoot out words and sentences so…fast. She bent down to Emilia and smiled at her, shaking the hand that Emilia had put out.
“Hi Emilia, my name is Olivia, but you can call me Liv.”
“Liv is a pretty name!”
Olivia laughed at Emilia, who was now giggling.
“Well thank you Emilia, you’re a very pretty young lady yourself.”
Emilia blushed and was about to speak again, but was interrupted by her mothers voice.
“Dean! You’re here! And you brought a lady friend…she’s pretty.” the woman looked over to Olivia,” you wouldn’t believe the skanks he used to bring…well until he became smart, that is.”
Olivia laughed at Dean’s blush and glare at his sister.
The woman walked over to Olivia, shaking her hand.
She was taller than Olivia and she wondered if the woman was a model; her hair was almost as curly as Emilia’s, yet it was darker than the child’s and her blue eyes weren’t as piercing as Emilia’s. She had a simple white sun dress on with light blue flats. The dress accented her tan skin, almost tanner than Dean. Her smile was bright and wide, her eyes sparkled and her cheeks had a slight hue to them.
“Hi I’m Isabelle. It’s very nice to meet you, Dean’s told us a lot about you.”
Now it was Olivia’s turn to blush.
“It’s nice to meet you too, I'm Olivia.”
“But you can call her Liv!” Emilia jumped in.
The trio all laughed at Emilia and Isabelle guided them to the living room where everyone else was.
Olivia could see Catherine when she walked into the living room, as well as two men, a woman and two children. One of the men was as tall as Isabelle; he had dark brown hair that was neatly trimmed. His attire was that of a classy yet casual suit with nice dress shoes to match. Olivia guessed this was Isabelle’s husband.
The other man was much more casual, shorter than Isabelle and shorter than Olivia; he had unruly blonde hair, a pale complexion, and dull brown eyes. He wore a loose graphic tee, dark jeans, and nice designer sneakers.
The last adult that Olivia had yet to meet was a woman who was standing with Catherine, out of the corner of her eye watching two children carefully. She had bleached blonde hair, a pale complexion, and bright green eyes. Her hair was tight in a bun, similar to Catherine, but had a few hairs curled. She was wearing a tan flowy, long skirt and a tucked in blouse with extremely tall heels. Olivia guessed this was Dean’s other sister, Laura, but the men were a mystery to her still.
Isabelle guided Olivia to the two men, leaving Dean alone with a babbling Emilia.
“Mick, Nicolas, this is Olivia Dean’s girlfriend.” Isabelle introduced.
Isabelle pointed to the classy, well kept man.
“Olivia this is Nicolas, Laura’s husband.” Isabelle then pointed to the other man,” And this is my husband, Mick.”
Well it seemed Olivia was wrong.
“It’s nice to meet you Olivia,” Mick said, shaking her hand kindly.
“A pleasure,” Nicolas said, also shaking her hand.
“It’s very nice to meet you also.”
Before she could say anything else to the two men Isabelle had dragged her off to Catherine, and, who she supposed, was Laura.
“Mum you’ve already met Olivia I presume?” Isabelle asked.
Catherine nodded her head, smirking at Olivia.
“Olivia this is Laura.” She waved her hand to Laura and Laura smiled at Olivia, shaking her hand,” Laura this is Olivia, Dean’s girlfriend.”
“It’s great to finally meet you Olivia.” Laura said.
“Likewise,” Olivia replied back.
“So Olivia what is it you do?” Laura asked politely.
“I'm a Detective at the Special Victims Unit.” She answered.
Laura nodded, interested as well as Isabelle and Catherine.
“It must get hard for you sometimes, no?” Catherine asked.
Olivia sighed and smiled at the woman, honesty in her eyes.
“It does get hard sometimes, but I remember what I'm doing and how I'm helping people and I cant help but want to do it as long as I can.”
Catherine smiled brightly at her, nodding slowly, and somehow ending that topic.
“Isabelle what do you do?” Olivia asked curiously, almost certain she was involved with some sort of beauty industry.
“Oh, I'm a librarian.” Isabelle replied.
Olivia was definitely surprised.
“Yeah, she’s the nerd in our little family.” Laura said with laughter.
All of the woman laughed, Isabelle glaring at Laura before she finally gave in to the laughter as well.
“And Laura, you?”
Laura ceased her laughter and looked at Olivia.
“I'm a professional ballroom dancer, I have a studio out in California that my husband and I run.”
“Wow that sounds amazing.”
Laura smiled.
“Yes, well it is. Sometimes though, people often place me for the librarian and Isabelle as the dancer.”
Laura laughed as Isabelle blushed and turned her face away.
“I could never do what you do Laura.”
Catherine laughed at the two and smiled at Olivia, Olivia smiling back. Suddenly a loud crash was heard in the kitchen. Catherine, Laura and Isabelle all ran to the kitchen, Olivia following close by. There, sitting on the floor were the two twins, pots and pans surrounded them, and the cabinet door wide open. They smiled innocently at the women.
“Oh mum I'm so sorry! I turn my back for one second and these two are rummaging through your kitchen.” Laura rambled, scrambling to pick up the children and the dishware at the same time.
“Dearie don’t fret, they’re just children.” Catherine reassured as she bent down and gathered the pans from the floor and the pots from Laura’s arms. Beside Olivia she could hear Isabelle laughing quietly at the situation.
“Is! It isn’t funny! I swear I can never keep these two out of trouble.”
“But mommy it was Lee’s idea!” one of the girls shouted, a purple ribbon in her blonde hair.
“Hey! It was not! Lizzy told me to ma!” the other one shouted back, a green ribbon in her hair.
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
“Not!”
”Too!”
“Hey! Both of you! I don’t care whose idea it was. You need to apologize to your grandmother right now.”
The two looked down at the tone of their mother’s voice and both replied in a small voice: “Yes mama. We’re sorry Nana.”
Olivia smiled at the innocence of their voice and the shameful look on their freckled faces. Catherine walked over to them after putting the dishes on the counters, a smile on her face.
“Oh darlings I'm not angry with you, but you need to stop getting into trouble. Your giving your mother worry wrinkles.” Catherine assured, whispering her last sentence into their ears. They both giggled and looked at Olivia curiously, wondering who this new stranger was.
“Mommy who’s that lady?” the twin with the green ribbon asked.
Laura laughed at walked over to Olivia, the twins still resting on her hips.
“Novalee, Elizabeth this is Olivia, your uncle’s…friend.” She said with a smile.
“Olivia this is Novalee,”she gestured to the twin with the green ribbon,” And this is Elizabeth,” next she gestured to the twin with the purple ribbon.
“Well it’s very nice to meet you two,” Olivia said with a smile.
Novalee smiled brightly at Olivia.
“I'm happy to meet you Ms. Olivia.”
“Me too!”
They all laughed and returned to the livin
K so apparently my fic wasnt as bad as I thought, so here's chapter two...yeah, yeah I know its short but hey at least your getting a chapter two!