Time Warp: White Rabbit (Reece) (M)

[Olivia Baker]

Set January 3, 2019
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When the snow melted and the first flowers of spring started to bloom central park honestly wreaked. The white rosacea flowers did this every year. They were the first to bloom and they made the entire city smell absolutely foul, and made it hard to enjoy the finally tolerable weather. Of course, they were stunning at least, which made them a little more tolerable. They were like a sickly reminder that city planted to remind itself to stay humble and that even the sweetest looking of things could be disappointingly deceiving. 

Olivia stepped over the petals as she walked through the park, heading towards the Alice in Wonderland statue where she was to meet up with Nellie who currently had her four year old. She'd never get used to being a mother nor would her family who nearly through her out when they found out about the pregnancy. She'd told them that the baby was Jack's who she'd been engaged to now for over a year and that helped considering his status in academics, the only thing her parents really cared about anyway. His money helped to ease the pain of disappointment as well. With Wes growing older now, his features were growing more and more distinctive and she wonder how long it'd take before Jack questioned the paternity. Part of her liked to think he already knew... he was a smart man after all and Wes shared nothing with Jack but a last name. 

The park was busy today with everyone coming out of the woodwork to enjoy the new spring weather. It was a miracle she found a place to sit around the statue at all considering it's popularity over the recent years. Of course, the statue was difficult to find for tourists, they were always so surprised at how huge and windy central park was and it took her herself several years to properly learn the route to get to it. 

The tall brunette slid onto one of the benches, smoothing out her sundress before slipping her copy of Nicholas Spark's most recent book. Something about young love and missed connections, she honestly had trouble keeping his books straight. The inside picture of him made her chuckle, they always, ALWAYS posed the man as if he was gay. Probably a tactic to get women to trust his love stories a little easier than if he was some burley redneck from duck dynasty or something. 

[Reece Morgan]

The premiere of Jack's movie was in New York and as always, Reece's parents wanted to show a strong family front so he had to go. And he couldn't go alone so the lady he had had in his arms the whole weekend was his girlfriend. Reece didn't even bother asking her where she was born. Every time an interviewer asked who she was, he simply smiled secretively and walked away. To the public, they were the picture perfect couple. Quiet and secretive but adoring when together. They were good actors.

He hated the fact that he had to show his face anywhere when it came to family events. And yes, premieres were family events now. Although his relationship with Jack had improved, he still didn't see eye to eye with his parents. He did, however, follow in their footsteps when it came to his career path. He had been in three major productions and several indie films. The critics loved him and the best critic he ever got was that he didn't have the same style of acting his parents had. Some didn't even know they were related.

He had definitely grown bitter ever since he left Hammel to study in Juilliard where he got partial scholarship for performing arts. His leave from Hammel had been bittersweet. His parting gift had been getting together with the one girl he didn't think he could have. And then ruining it by catching the first flight out of Vermont that very night.

He thought of Olivia a lot the next few years. She'd left him a bunch of voicemails and angry messages in his old phone that he still kept just to hear her voice.

He was listening to it then as he walked through Central Park, passing the Alice in Wonderland statue. His heart beat fast when her voice came through loud and clear on his phone. He leaned against the toadstool and scanned the park, watching people until his eyes landed on someone that made his face drain of blood.

"Liv." He croaked lightly and just like that, his feet brought him over to her. Things he wanted to say jumbled up in his head but he was approaching close and his heart was beating fast. "Olivia..." he whispered a little winded. God, that face...that beautiful face.

[Olivia Baker]

Reece Morgan was someone that Olivia often tried to forget, but with his status, it was difficult. It seemed in recent years that face was plastered everywhere.... but the magazines and online articles she could avoid, it was Wes that she couldn't. Wes's eyes... his eyes... they were one in the same and though she loved her son dearly, and wouldn't trade him for the world, she often found herself wishing he had better eyes and she dreaded the day she had to tell him who his father really was. Her fiancéwas a gem, she knew he knew... but he never brought it up, not once. Of course Jack didn't know exactly who made his son, he could easily see it wasn't him especially as he started to grow up and look less and less like Olivia.

The voice came in light, like the wind, or the distant calling of someone in a dream she'd woken up from long long ago. She looked up from her book, her eyes landing on the man who had haunted her dreams for so many years now and her heart immediately felt suffocated, as if something was twisting it around and around bringing back the pain of abandonment instantly. They had never been a couple... it was arguable if there were real feelings at all between them, if there were they'd never talked about it. He was her friend though. He had turned into someone that she had considered one of her best friends and he'd completely cut her off after banging her.

"Reece?" She blinked. It couldn't be. "What are you doing here?" She couldn't think of anything better to say. She still was having trouble actually comprehending that he was standing right in front of her. "I mean... Hi." She said putting her book down and springing up to hug him. She didn't want to, or maybe she did. The surprise of seeing him was stronger than the anger she'd kept contained towards him for the past four, almost five years. But Olivia was polite, and she'd greet him. "I... I'm shocked. It's been.. years" She said starting to ramble as her shock started to fizzle away and she started to realize due to his shock that this wasn't exactly an intentional meeting. Not that it would be or she'd expect it to be. She'd stopped fantisizing about him showing up, surprising her out of the blue saying that he made a mistake and that he loved her and then scooping her into his arms, begging her to be with him a long time ago. Life wasn't some fairytale and if Reece had taught her anything, it was to grow up.

[Reece Morgan]

Reece could see that the years between Hammel and now had not changed the beautiful brunette that much. The hug had not been anticipated but it was true to form. He had hoped and with that hope, he clung on to Olivia awhile longer.

He tried not to let his emotions get the best of him as he tried for a normal conversation with the girl he thought of as the one who got away.

"Yeah," the paper manipulator replied quietly. It was a start. "You look...great." He tried again before running his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry. I...didn't expect to see you here."

He should be apologising for ignoring her calls. He should be apologising for not being there when she woke up. He should be apologising for bailing on her after their fights. There were a lot of things he should be apologising for but the words just couldn't come out.

"H...how are you, Livvy?"

[Olivia Baker]

As his arms wrapped around her she felt that pang in her chest. He smelled the same way he did in High School and it brought back so many memories... it was odd how fast everything rushed back, the pool table, the ice skating rink, hell she still had a massive scar on her leg, and the way he pushed her hair back behind her ears.... it was surreal. "I didn't expect to see you either." She said fairly "Except for... well you know" She chuckled "In tabloids." Awkward... the fame thing had never been a part of their relationship, hell at first she wasn't even aware of it and then when she did eventually find out she didn't give a rats ass. It was always about Reece, not about his stupid name or his family or any of that extra bullshit... that was all just noise.

"I'm... good." She answered carefully "How are-" She was cut off when a someone small flung themselves into her legs, hugging them. "Mommy!" Wes chimed in, his nanny trailing behind holding his spider man backpack. He himself was decked out in his favorite super hero's memorabilia. "Hey Sweetie.' She said going down to his level and giving him a hug. "Did you have a good day?" He nodded "Ok well why don't you go over there and play with Aiden and Miss Lilly for a while while I talk to my old friend ok?" He groaned and she chuckled "Aw come on... It'll just be for a bit." He sighed and dragged his feet as he walked back towards his nanny and his small companion, quickly changing paces when they started getting into some form of tag.

"Sorry." Liv said "I... have a son." She told him.

[Reece Morgan]

Reece released a small laugh when she mentioned the tabloids. He rolled his eyes at the fact and shrugged lightly. "They're relentless." He commented before turning when he heard a kid yelling out for his mother. A smile crept on his lips before he realised the kid was coming straight to them. The smile dropped, and so did his heart.

At first, it didn't even register in his head that it could even be a possibility that it was his. All he thought was that Olivia had gotten married and this was the happy by-product. His heart broke a little at the thought and he didn't even look at the boy.

Or his mother when she announced what had been a little too obvious. "Yeah...I got that." He responded. "So you're married?" He asked quietly.

[Olivia Baker]

"No" She answered a little too quickly, and all of a sudden didn't want to tell him about the one ring that was on her finger. "I mean... I"m engaged but.." She shrugged "That's a pretty recent thing actually...." She glanced back at Wes... she hoped he didn't notice.. Well Liv wasn't even entirely sure that it was-... but it was obvious if you got a good look at Wes... at least to her... or maybe she just hoped it was - no. It didn't matter who the biological father of Wes was, Jack was his father now.. and that was that.

She showed him the ring, it was pretty, expensive, some kind of heirloom from Jack's family. An air of awkwardness came over them and she had to fill it "And you?" She had seen pictures of him with women... several, she'd also heard rumors and this and that and it seemed like every week there was a new one but she didn't want to feed into that.... partially because she didn't want to believe any of them. She felt guilt, she shouldn't be thinking these things... she was engaged to a great man who loved her. Reece was an old friend, he should be happy.

[Reece Morgan]

He frowned slightly and instantly hope ballooned in him before it deflated at the mention of the engagement. He should be happy for her. She moved on. She deserved to move on. He knew that. He should know that. But he didn't want to. He didn't want to acknowledge the fact that she had managed to move on with her life when he was still stuck in that time when they had every possibility of being together.

He didn't see how selfish that was. He wasn't thinking straight. All he could think of was Olivia in the arms of another man and that it wasn't him.

Barely looking at the ring, Reece forced a smile on his face. "Beautiful. Congratulations. He's a lucky guy." He didn't even realise he had said all that in one breath in a monotonous tone of voice.

"Me?" The announcement had caught him so off guard that a huge chunk of his old habits hit him like a freight train. "Ah you know, you've probably seen the magazines." He shrugged with a small smirk.

[Olivia Baker]

"Thank you." She said but knew Reece better than to accept what he really said... not when it was like that... unless he really had changed that much. But she'd attribute that to not knowing him or some weird... friendship thing. If he had wanted her he had more than one opportunity to find her. She'd called him so many times.... and then well... then she found out about being pregnant and she was alone and he still didn't pick up the phone... not that she tried too much after finding that out. She swallowed hard.

"Yeah you've been busy then... Congrats all of them have been really... something." She said with a firm nod, her eyes drifting down to the ground. Silence fell again.

"You never... returned my calls." She squeaked, she didn't know how her voice had become so small all of a sudden and she tucked her hair behind her ears, just like she'd always done when she was uncomfortable.

Wes kept looking back over at his mom with Reece, knowing he recognized him from somewhere, maybe one of the hoards of superhero movies he kept on a loop.

[Reece Morgan]

The conversation was getting awkward and he knew it had been his fault. But it had gotten out. If he apologised now, it would just seem pathetic. He would seem pathetic.

Her comment made an ache spread across his jaw, something that happened when things got a little hard to bear for him. It was a weird sensation but his throat felt closed up and his eyes felt like it was about to tear up.

Gulping inaudibly, he cleared his throat and shrugged before turning to look at her when her voice gave way. "Y-yeah...I...sorry about that. I haven't...I don't...have an excuse." He pocketed his hands and looked away from her.

He should have continued. He should have apologised more but there was nothing else he could say without breaking down.

[Olivia Baker]

She nodded knowingly. What she wanted to say was that she missed him and that she hated him so much for not returning her calls. She wanted to hit him or something and to ask him why. She wanted to barade him and to interogate and to yell and scream and then she wanted him to kiss her... she wanted to be back in that one moment that they had before he left, where for that second everything was actually where it was supposed to be and she felt at ease and right... that moment before he ripped it away from her never to look back.

"It's ok." Is what ended up coming out of her mouth. By now a camera had found them and snapped a shot of the two together. Wes noticed him first and went over to play with the man with the camera asking if he was making a movie. In return the photographer smiled and took a picture of him too and asked if he was the real spider man which Wes proudly answered yes before running back to Liv. "Mommy! He asked if i was the real spider man and he took my picture!" He gloated, puffing out his chest proudly displying a cockier smile than Liv would like. Liv looked back up to Reece, placing her hand on Wes's head as she did so. "You know... I really want to catch up with you just not here... this isn't the right place." Her voice was a bit choked still. "You're probably too busy but... You can come home with us for lunch? Wes is going to be playing with a friend so if you don't mind hanging out." She said "Or i can meet you.' God she sounded desperate. Part of her was though. She needed certain answers and Reece.... He deserved to know a couple of things... though she had no idea how on earth she'd tell him.

[Reece Morgan]

Had he known how she was feeling, Reece would have broken down in front of her, pulled her in a hug and begged her to forgive him. It was dramatic, he realised it but their whole relationship had been a big what if. He hated himself for letting it get to that.

Her response was heart breaking. He had somehow expected her to lash out at him but given where they were, he knew she was only trying to keep up a sense of decorum. Especially in front of her kid who was now running up to them again. Reece finally took a good look at the kid and his heart skipped a beat.

Reece calmed himself down and tried hard to suppress all the insane thoughts jumbling up in his head. "No..." he breathed out before blinking up at Olivia, realising she was talking.

Even the name. That can't be a coincidence. He thought to himself before clearing his throat.

"I'm sorry...yeah no. I'm not busy. I...I'm staying at the Ritz. Until the weekend. Why don't you come over? Tomorrow? I..." he squeezed his fingers into the palm of his hand to relax himself. He was talking too fast and too much. "Sorry...tomorrow. Call me. Please. You...I hope you still have my number."

[Olivia Baker]

Liv heaved Wes up into her arms, the'd gotten a lot more toned since having him, actually motherhood had treated her well. It forced her to be a lot more active and she was more toned than in high school, more womanly looking.

"That sounds perfect." She said happy he wasn't going to come home with her and Wes. SHe needed to think about a lot of things... she needed to process. Talking to Reece was something she'd thought about so many times over the years. She'd rehearsed the conversation more times than she could count in her head, the yelling and crying and confessions and.... all of it. Wes couldn't be there.

"I think I still have your number, yeah." She said knowing she did. SHe'd memorized it whether she'd like to admit it or not. "I'll see you tomorrow Reece Morgan." She said as she turned to go home. "Alright so are you going to tell me about your day or what?" She asked Wes as she left.

[Reece Morgan]

He said nothing when Olivia finally walked away. Reece rubbed his face and shook his head. That kid was his. There was no doubt.

--

It was during his third shirt change that he realised that it didn't matter what he wore. Olivia had seen him at his worst dressing wise. What was he doing?

He did want to make a good impression on her so he put on a light blue silk shirt and pressed pants and waited for her to call. He had already told the concierge to be discreet when she came over.

Reece was nervous, that much was clear but he had a reason. He was going to find out whether that kid was his. Wes. No doubt short for Wesley. His childhood best friend. He had confided in Olivia about Wesley and how he had been the only friend Reece had growing up. It can't be a coincidence.

There was a knock on the door and Reece shot up like a lightning to answer the door. "H...hi."

[Olivia Baker]

Liv had thrown up twice that morning. SHe had never been that nervous and it didn't help that Jack was away this entire weekend. She needed someone to talk to, she couldn't even get words out to talk even if anyone was there so maybe it didn't matter anyway. After an hour she managed to make herself look decent throwing on another dress and actually doing her makeup for the first time in what seemed like forever. Once Lilly, the babysitter got there she kissed Wes on the cheek and headed out the door.

--

The hotel was lavish, of course, she'd been there many times for charity events with her family and this and that growing up. THey'd been a lot fewer once she got pregnant, it took a long time for her family to forgive her for that one and even still she was the families shame. "Hello I'm here to see Reece Morgan." She told the front desk and gave her name before them calling up to his room as she headed to the elevator.

She felt like she could get sick again as she walked down the hallway finally finding his room. "Reece." She knocked. It felt like Hammel again in the dorms. It was surreal.

"Hi." SHe smiled back to him staring. "I... can't believe i bumped into you yesterday." She said as she entered starting with the easy stuff. She had no idea that he'd connected the dots about Wes.