Emmerdale : Bleeding Love (Ross Barton/OFC fanfic)

That Time When... Ollie Needed Some Quiet

Ollie was glad for the peace and quiet of Home Farm today. Lawrence was feeling much better after recent events and had left on a business trip, Lachlan was at school and Chrissie and Robert were spending the day out together.

Robert.

She had always loathed her sister's fiance. Even more so now she knew he was responsible for the raid on Home Farm. Having to see his face across the breakfast table every morning was slowly becoming her biggest challenge to date. Most mornings she wanted to dump a pot of hot coffee over his head, but lately it was as if his smug levels had risen in the few weeks since the raid. It felt like he were mocking her and her family. Which was ridiculous as he had no idea that she even knew the truth. And she wasn't enjoying having to keep it from Chrissie. It felt like she was putting Ross's freedom above her sister's happiness. The only thing that was keeping her going was knowing that Ross was right - Robert would  eventually get his comeuppance and while, yes, Chrissie would be heartbroken, she would move on and find someone else.

But Ollie wasn't entirely convinced that it would be as easy as that. She had never seen her sister this happy with anyone before. Not even with Donny, Lachlan's father. Just that morning Chrissie had stood at the kitchen sink rinsing out cereal bowls and Robert had moved up behind her, nuzzling his nose over her neck and making her squirm and laugh, and Ollie had found herself tensing up. Knowing how much Chrissie loved Robert was making the truth even harder to bear. She just hoped that his comeuppance came soon, because she wasn't sure how much longer she could remain quiet.

But today she didn't want to think about any of that - least of all Robert - for today was a day of quiet reflection. Today would have been her father's sixty-seventh birthday.

Suddenly there wasn't enough space at Home Farm. The walls were closing in on her, like always whenever memories of her father came to mind. When she remembered everything she had lost. Most days it felt like she couldn't breathe. Today was one of those days. She needed more space so, grabbing her keys, she decided a walk around the grounds was just what she needed to clear the noise from her head. It was an unusually warm December day and she didn't bother wrapping up. Just a jacket would be enough. She'd been walking for twenty minutes, lost in thought, when she suddenly found herself on the outskirts of the village. Not quite sure how that had happened she made her way down Main Street and wandered over to the children's play area where she sat on a swing, gently rocking backwards and forwards, trying to clear the unnecessary noise from her mind and focus on just one thing. Like her therapist had advised.

Over at Dingle's garage Aaron was hard at work - nothing unusual there - and Ross had just returned from the cafe with coffee and snacks when he saw Ollie over at the play area.

"I'm taking a break," he said handing one of the Styrofoam cups to Aaron.

"Getting the coffee was your break," Aaron replied.

Ross tutted. "Chill your boots, I'll be five minutes," he said and made his way over to where she was.

Aaron sighed, watching him go with a shake of his head. He was never going to get anywhere with Ollie but he had to admire the bloke's persistence.

Ollie was still practicing what her therapist had taught her and doing it well as she didn't even hear the crunch of gravel from behind. Until the voice drifted over her shoulder telling her she was no longer alone.

"Wanna push?"

Startled, she jumped slightly and turned to see Ross leaning up against the swing frame, a soft grin on his face. "You scared me," she said.

"Sorry." He sat down on the swing next to her and caught the odd look she was sending him. "What's with the face?"

"I'm just not used to receiving so many apologies from you," she said with a faint smile.