20 Dad, You Were Doing What?!

Autumn held onto Olivia's hand tightly as Blair bounced up and down on her tip toes "Where is he? Don't worry Olivia he should be here soon." Blair said anxiously as she looked down the street. "Why didn't you tell us you were feeling sick, I would have got you to come over to my house. You know my mom would have loved the excuse to pamper you." Autumn asked as she looked up at Olivia face.

"I couldn't bother you guys besides I was resting at home." Olivia tried to argue but she couldn't help but feel guilt as the words left her mouth.

"Couldn't my a**! You know we would have dropped everything and gone to you!" Blair shouted she couldn't stop bouncing back and forth. She was itching to hit something but kept her hands locked behind her back as she jumped onto her toes left and right.

"That's the problem!" Olivia shouted back, tears were starting to pool in her eyes "You would have abandoned something that meant a lot to you for me! I don't want you to stop living your lives because of me!" Oh no she couldn't stop herself now, Olivia started to hiccup between her words "My dad - my dad - en-ended - his im-im-important meet-ing be-because of ME!" Olivia bite her lip to stop the tears from falling.

Autumn let go of Olivia's hand and hugged her as hard as she could. She spoke ever so softly from Olivia's shoulder "And we are your family aren't we? Of course your important too..." The words uttered by Autumn's sweet voice unhinged Olivia and she started to wail. Blair stopped bouncing and rushed to hug her friends instead.

"What if something happened to you! I - we don't know what we would do! Please let us know the next time that you need help!" Blair said as tears started to trail down her face.

"I promise! I will ask for help next time!" Olivia said as she started to calm down, but little did she know it was a promise that she would have great difficult in keeping.

....

Avery Steel parked the car in the garage and carried Olivia into her room. How could his precious child get so sick? He had enough sense to call the family physician on the car ride to pick up Olivia but he lots that common sense when he saw her collapse by the side of the road as her friends tried to get help.

What kind of parent did he become?! He had no idea she was this sick, to even collapse twice in one day. If it wasn't for his phone call to Olivia he would have never known what happened at school. He had to give his thanks to Eli for answering her phone but the little bastard didn't stay away from her like he was supposed too.

The physician finally made it to the house and assessed Olivia. "It's the early stages of pneumonia" the doctor said as he was removing the pulse oximetry from her finger. "Pneumonia! How did she get pneumonia!" Avery was beside himself with panic.

"Look Avery, we got lucky and it was caught early. I'm going to write a prescription but she is going to need a lot of bed rest. Also have a bucket ready she might start vomiting soon and you're going to need to watch her temperature, if it reaches 104 F pack her up and take her to the hospital." Avery's face paled at the doctor's words "Don't worry I gave her a shot of ibuprofen, so I'm not too worried that her fever will reach that high but I do need to warn you."

....

Three days! She had been passed out for three days and Avery was beside himself with worry. Olivia had been slipping in and out of consciousness for hours on end. Unable to retain any liquid, Avery had an IV drip hooked up to her instead. Bless the family physician for being so patient with him, he knew the constant phone calls were driving the good doctor up the wall but what was he supposed to do.

Avery was ready to do something stupid, he wasn't sure what but he really wanted to do something stupid when he heard faint groans coming from Olivia's bed. "Dad..." Avery kneeled beside Olivia's bed as he grabbed her hand. "Yes sweetie I'm here."

Olivia's eyes looked glazed as she looked at her father's face, he aged since she last time she saw him, his handsome rugged face face was now puffy, pale and resembling more like a panda with the bags he had under his eyes. "I'm so thirsty." Olivia said with her visibly cracked lips. Avery gently helped her up to a sitting position before handing her a bottle of water "Drink slowly" he commanded.

Olivia tried to drink slowly but the water going down her throat felt heavenly that she couldn't stop from chugging down the water. "Sweet heart no!" Avery shouted. Olivia should have listened it was too much for her body, she instantly regretted chugging the water as it came back up and into a bucket beside her.

Avery gently rubbed Olivia's back as she threw up all the water she had just chugged. "It's ok sweetie. It's ok." Once Olivia was empty, Avery helped her back into bed "Livy you don't need to rush alright. Just take things slowly and you will recover I promise but your going to be in bed resting for another day or two ok?" Olivia's throat burned from the vomiting and didn't dare to speak, she just looked at her dad and nodded in agreement.

There was a small knock on the door and a familiar voice spoke "Avery I heard you talking, is Olivia awake?" Olivia's eyes widened with surprise as Ms. Masama walked into her room, she was only wearing a robe and her hair was down. Her long, straight locks of gold went down towards her waist framing her tiny face making her look more youthful. She brought in two cups of tea and handed one to Avery.

"Agni! Yes Olivia's awake now!" he said as he tenderly took the cup of tea from her hands. Agni gave a small blush as she looked away from Avery and towards Olivia, she asked "Sweetie how are you feeling?"

Olivia was confused why was Ms. Masama in her room? Better yet why was she wearing a bath robe? Agni Masama felt Olivia's awkward stare and turned to Avery "I'm going to get going now but if you need me for any reason just give me call ok?" and placed a dainty hand onto Avery shoulder. Avery looked up at Agni and placed his own hand on hers. "Thank you Agni." Agni Masama gave another bashful look before she nodded and rushed out of the room.

....

It took Olivia half a day to finally recover enough to try and strike up a conversation with her dad. "Dad why was Ms. Masama here?" The apple Avery was peeling for Olivia fumbled at her question and landed on the floor. Avery stayed tight lipped and tried to hide his flushed face by bending sideways from the chair he was sitting in, trying to pick up the lost apple.

Olivia didn't have the time to play games with her dad and wanted to know the answer now. "Edmond!" Olivia shouted while Avery's face paled. "Mmmh. Oh it's the princess that called on me today what do I owe the pleasure?" Olivia rolled her eyes as Edmond slithered into her room. His copper eyes shining with curiosity while his big smile lingered on his face.

"Why was Ms. Masama here, Edmond." Edmond didn't care too much for her tone so he decided to stroll over to Avery. He wrapped he's well toned arms around his master's shoulder's and snuggled against his temple. "Why should I tell you what daddy dear is up to? Why don't I ask you about Eli instead?" he threatened her with a purr.

Olivia didn't flinch. Instead she held her head high, narrowed her eyes and said "My payment is a picture of daddy in his younger years." Edmond perked his head up with undeniable interest, he started to loosen his grip around Avery. "I can give you a picture of baby Olivia from my personal secret stash." Edmond repositioned himself back onto Avery with a smile.

Olivia knew she needed to up her game, what was her dad trying to hide. "I will give you one of mom's paintings." Edmond quickly let go of his master, kneeled beside Olivia's bed and tried to coax her to brush her fingers through his salt and pepper hair. "Well you see princess..."

"I have been seeing Agni Masama romantically" Avery said nonchalantly. Edmond was pissed! How dare his master give information so willingly and causing him to lose his reward. Edmond shot straight up and stormed towards the door, he gave Avery one last cold glare before he dropped his revenge bomb "Princess, the King of Hearts has been keeping your prince away from you as well." and slammed the door.

Olivia's jaw dropped as she stared at her father, she brought her jaw back up and very tight lipped she asked "When..." Avery tried to explain quickly "You see I lied about the important business meeting and was actually going on dates with the 5 different women from the files. " Olivia narrowed her eyes at her father while he scratched his one cheek.

Avery gave a small cough and continued "Well Monday I invited Agni - I mean Ms. Masama to join me for breakfast in Sol Country and tried to walk along the beach but I got worried that you hadn't called. She told me to call you instead since I was so worried and to my surprise it was the little bast-um-Eli who answered your phone and told me you fainted." Olivia's started to turn white from the pressure she was giving them and clutched at her comforter.

Avery panicked and brought his hands together into a fist in front of him and continued talking "Well Ag-um-Ms. Masama grabbed my hand and rushed me back to you. She was actually in the car with us but I guess you were passed out at the time. Well she offered to stay here for a bit helping me watch you. You know she is quite a remarkable women! She was able to balance her own life, work and tend to the both of us with ease that somewhere along the way I started to develop feelings for her."

Olivia was livid! Avery could have sworn that he saw the flames of hell come from behind her before she spoke. "I support your choices and love life! I did from the start! I was just worried that you had Laila and Loreley's mother here for too long that they felt neglected!"

Avery was struck dumb for a second before he came to his senses. "Then sweetie why are you so made?" It was venom! Pure venom that was coming out of his daughter's mouth "Why are you keeping Eli away from me?!"

"...uh f*ck."