Chapter 3

Baby's Mother Cooks My Meal

Olivia and Angel were busy in the kitchen of the pad, cooking up a feast. Things between them were still not quite mended from their argument the night before, and they cooked in silence. Finally, Olivia spoke up.

"Hey Angel??" She said timidly. Angel looked up from the pot of noodles she was stirring.

"Yeah?"

"Umm…are you still mad at me?" she asked softly, bracing herself for the answer.

"Mad at you? Because of last night?" she asked, sounding a little surprised. Olivia ran her fingers through her hair in a nervous gesture.

"Yeah." She replied.

"Nah, how could I be mad 'cause of that? I still don't think you should be seeing Peter like this, but I'm not mad at you." Olivia let out a sigh of relief. She was glad that her sister still had such a forgiving nature. "As long as you don't get too involved with Peter, I guess there's no real harm." She said nonchalantly, going back to stirring the noodles. Olivia's whole body tensed up, and Angel looked up at her. "Tell me you didn't, please Liv…" she said in a stern voice. Olivia nodded guiltily, and looked down at her feet. "Liv, how could you?!?!" she asked loudly. The four guys stopped what they were doing in the other room, and looked up. "How could you uh, put that much pepper in that? We'll be sneezing for days!" she said akwardly. It worked, and the guys went back to whatever they were doing.

"Angel, I really like Peter. I mean, I really like him…this is the real thing." Olivia replied softly. Angel's expression softened.

"Do you really mean that Liv?? I mean, do you really mean that?" Angel asked seriously. Olivia nodded.

"Yeah, I really do. I know we haven't known each other long," Olivia said, while pouring the noodles into the orange strainer-originally from Peter's kitchen back home-and stepping back from the steam hovering over the sink. "but there's just something about him, I can't explain it." Angel knew exactly what she meant, she had felt the same way when she had first met Micky, and she instantly sympathized with her sister.

"I understand…I just think you're moving a bit too fast with this. I mean, Liv; you're still legally married and all."

"Yeah, Peter and I talked about that. I just told him that I'm going to file divorce papers as soon as I can, and he said that he supports me on this. There's just one thing I need to ask of you." Liv said tentitivily, running her fingers through her auburn curls.

"What is it?" Angel asked curiously.

"Well about Rolling Stone…Peter told me they needed more writers, and I'm sort of looking for a job…" she trailed off, studying her sister's reaction carefully.

"Yes, they do need more writers…that's a really great idea! I'll talk to Brian about it tomorrow morning. You can come to work with me and talk to him yourself, actually. He's a really nice guy, I'm sure he'll give you a job." Angel said brightly. "Hey guys, dinner's ready!" she called out, putting the rest of the meal on the table.

They ate quietly, with Pete shooting looks over at Olivia every few moments. They didn't go unoticed by Mike, who rolled his eyes in mock disgust. When everyone had finished eating-including the ever-messy Paul-Angel led Peter outside to have a talk with him. He looked worried, and was nervously pulling at a stray thread on his blue shirt.

"I know what this is about." Peter said, looking down at his feet. "Look, Liv and I talked about…I know that she's still married to Paul's father, but that's only on paper. He doesn't mean anything to her anymore." He said bravely, waiting for Angel to retaliate. Micky had warned him of her horrible temper, and he braced himself for what was coming. But the look on her face was one of sympathy, not anger.

"That's true Peter. I'm just worried," Angel said, biting her lower lip "that maybe things are moving a bit too fast. I mean, you two just met yesterday! How do you know Liv isn't just going to leave here any minute now, and go back to him?"

"I don't." Peter said bluntly. "I just…I can't explain it, Angel. I know that I've only known Liv for about 24 hours, but I feel like I've known her my whole life." The desperate look in his eyes broke Angel's heart. She understood how he felt, and now she realised that Peter really did care about Olivia, he wasn't just playing games.

"I understand, Peter. Micky and I had an instant connection too. It's hard to understand unless you've been in that situation. I don't have anything against your relationship with my sister. I just don't want either one of you to get hurt, ok? Slow it down a bit, see what happens. I hope everything works out for the best." Angel said, smiling. Peter smiled back, his eyes filled with a new hope.

"Thanks Angel, it means a lot to me that you support this." He said, squeezing her hand. Angel smiled at him, and saw Micky walk out of the pad and onto the porch with them.

"Hey Angel, ready to go home? I'll walk ya." He said, extending his hand to her.

"Yes, I'm ready. I need to get some sleep, I have a busy day ahead of me." She replied, taking Micky's hand. Peter watched them walk down the beach, arm in arm. Although Micky was still the zany curly haired drummer he'd always been, Angel had really tamed him.

"Peter?" Olivia said, putting her hand on his shoulder. He jumped; he'd thought he was alone.

"Oh hi Liv. I didn't hear you come out."

"I called your name like, 3 times." She giggled. "I'm gonna go back to Angel's now, it's WAY past Paul's bedtime."

"Let me walk you." Peter said, rising to his feet. He extended his hand to her, and Olivia smiled and took it.

The next morning, Olivia and Angel dropped Paul off at the pad on their way to the Rolling Stone office. Peter had given his word that he would take good care of Paul, and Olivia had eagerly accepted his offer to babysit.

"For the millionth time Liv, we'll be fine!" Peter blurted out after a lengthy lecture on how Paul liked his bottle made.

"Yeah, and if he needs help the rest of us are 'ere." Davy said from across the room. Olivia nodded, and she and Angel left work. No sooner had they closed the door than Mike started in on Davy.

"You gotta be kiddin' me…this is Peter's job, not ours." he grumbled. Paul looked over to see where the drawly voice was coming from, and made happy gurgling noises when he saw the lanky Texan sitting at the breakfast table. "What are you so happy about?" Mike drawled, as Peter carried the small child to him.

"He likes you, Mike." He said, grinning. Mike rolled his eyes.

"Oh just give 'em to me." He said, holding his arms out. Peter handed Paul to him, and Paul immediately pulled off Mike's green woolhat and started to chew on it.

"This is gonna be a long day, shotgun." Mike said, giving Paul back to Peter.

Olivia smiled nervously as Angel led her to the office of her boss, Brian Geller.

"Oh Liv, come on. Brian's a nice guy, I'm sure he'll give you a break." Angel said, as she knocked on the door to the office. She heard a muffled male voice on the other side, and the door opened a few seconds later.

"Hey Angel, what can I do for you? Did you finish the fashion section already?" asked a tall, somewhat attractive man. He looked 30-ish, and Olivia assumed he was Brian.

"Actually, I'm pretty close to finishing it. I just have to reshoot a few more models and it'll be on your desk. But that's not why I'm here. I want to introduce you to a very talented writer, who I think would make a wonderful addition to our staff. I know we're shorthanded on writers, and so I brought her with me today. Brian, this is Olivia. Olivia, this is Brian Geller, my boss." She said, as she introduced her sister.

"Nice to meet you Olivia. Do you have any samples of your writing? Anything you wrote ever been published?"

"Yes, I have some of my stuff with me," she said, pulling a writing portfolio out of her oversized handbag.

"And she's been published, she used to write for the newspaper." Angel interjected. Brian leafed through the portfolio Olivia had handed him.

"Well this looks interesting, I'll get back to you in an hour or so." He said, smiling. Olivia and Angel exchanged excited looks.

"No problem." Olivia said.

"She'll be with me, shooting the models." Angel said. "Thanks Brian, I promise to have the film on your desk as soon as I touch it up."

"I'm sure you will," he said teasingly "I'll see you in a little while." Olivia and Angel left his office, and headed to the shoot to wait for Brian's response.


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