Game Of Hearts

Hush Now

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!* <3

Ethan reluctantly pulled away. There was always something going on when he got close to Olivia. Maybe that was a sign. Adrenaline pulsed through his veins and his head was spinning. What came over him?

He stalked in the direction of the noise but felt Olivia's fingers tug his hand back.

"Wait" she said, pulling out his gun from the back of her jeans. "You may need this"

Ethan took the gun from her with an incredulous expression. "Where did you get this from" he questioned her.

"From the car. I saw it lying there and thought you might need it."

Realization came over him. Why was he always leaving things in that dreaded automobile? "So why didn't you give it to me sooner?"

"I was going to but if you forgot I kind of got a little... distracted."

He flushed crimson. "Oh, right"

Ethan traversed toward the noise before Olivia could do anything crazier to his pounding heart. Hell, what would Charlotte think? He abandoned that thought. Charlotte was dead.

There was another smash of delicate glass and the sound of whimpering. Creepers... whimpered now? Confusion flooded him as he lowered the gun. But only by a couple of centimetres.

What was so intriguing about Olivia anyway? He asked himself, his deliberately disobedient mind drifting back to the woman in the kitchen.  She wasn't that grand was she? Heck, she hallucinates things and thinks them to be real!

But she's funny and smart and she saved your life you idiot, not to mention you're the one making all the moves on her. His mind argued with him. It was right. She was funny and definitely smart, he could have died back there, but with her careful hands she saved him from bleeding out. 

Oh and she was stubborn, stubborn as hell but he loved that about her. Wait. Did he just say the L-word?

Ethan shook himself out of his thoughts and back to the whimpering to distract himself from answering that unexpected thought.

He sauntered to the back room and heard discerned someone wailing. Walking around the corner, and much to his surprise, he found a ragged little girl hiding in the corner.

"P-please" she quivered, surrounding by glass pieces. "Don't hurt me"

Ethan's heart broke. He heard that from his sister all the time. She said she... saw things. Bad things. He couldn't do this. His palms got sweaty. Where was Olivia? This was her kind of thing. One part of him was glad she stayed put while the other part missed her by his side.

"Liv, get in here." He called and Olivia raced to where he was. With a soft gasp she gathered the little girl out from the area with the glass and into her arms. She had to be about five, maybe younger.

"Hush now." Olivia whispered in a melodic voice, gently stroking the child's head. The girl wept, making a wet puddle in Olivia's shirt. Olivia began to sing a lullaby, one that Ethan was unfamiliar with. He tucked his gun back into his pocket, suddenly afraid it might scare the child.

The sight made his heart hurt, but he kept it in. What was a small child doing in here? Was she hiding? He glanced up and saw a jammed in green button that read "do not touch" and the opened wall behind it. She was hiding. In front of him, Olivia repeated the same phrase once more and then lifted the child to stand while Olivia stayed on her knees to stay eye level.

"What's your name, honey?" she asked in a whisper. Ethan could barely hear a thing.

"Ava" she whispered back.

"Ava, that's beautiful. I'm Olivia, and this is Ethan" she said, gesturing toward him. Well, at least someone was acknowledging his presence."Do you know where your mother is?"

"Daddy put her in the ground yesterday and then he left me. He said he was coming back but he didn't." Ava whimpered. Olivia looked up at Ethan with a pained expression. 

"We'll take her" he glanced toward Olivia and started thinking double time. To take care of a child was a big job, and they both knew it. 

Olivia nodded and gathered the little girl into her arms as she stood up.

Taking in a child would be dangerous, but she wasn't just going to leave her here.