The first of the request fics - this is for someone (who already got to read her copy) who wanted to see Olivia and Viola as children. I couldn't quite get them too young, but it does take place before the main series.
April 2000
Olivia stood on her tiptoes and tried to spot a head of short, dark auburn hair in the crowd. She heard Viola’s track coach bark out Vi’s name and turned towards him. Seemingly from out of nowhere, Viola appeared at his side. Olivia kept an eye on their interaction as she made her way towards them.
Whatever the coach was saying made Viola smile. Olivia couldn’t help feeling envious. No matter what she or Sebastian did, Viola always seemed to be angry or depressed. Though her grades hadn’t slipped, they were getting phone calls from her teachers about hostile behavior in class and a short attention span. Tracking demons and school track meets were the only things that interested her anymore.
“Hey, kiddo. You did great.” Olivia waited until the coach had moved on to another student to approach Viola.
Viola dropped the purple and white towel onto the top of her matching gym bag. She brushed sweaty bangs out of her eyes and flashed her sister a tired smile. “I’m glad it was my last event. I’m beyond ready for a shower.”
“If your coach clears it, I can take you home. Unless you want to stick around to watch the other events, I mean.” Olivia sighed softly. Talking to her sister was growing increasingly difficult. She never knew what to say to her. She thrust a cold bottle of orange sports drink at Viola. “Here. I got this for you.”
Viola smiled again. Despite what Bas and Olivia thought, she did know how hard they tried. She didn’t mean to shut them out all the time, but with Dad missing, it was hard to feel anything except lost. Her first instinct was to keep the pain, confusion, and hopelessness locked away, but she’d been slipping. She needed to work on keeping her temper in check.
“Thanks, Liv. Orange is my favorite.”
“I know.” She was the one, after all, who’d had to take over grocery shopping after they’d put their mother in the institution. She had an index card for both of her siblings so she wouldn’t forget Sebastian’s Cheerios or accidentally get the mint toothpaste instead of the cinnamon.
Olivia fingered the design on the gold medal hanging out of the gym bag’s front pocket. Viola had won the gold in three of her events and the silver in the fourth. “I thought you were going to run the relay today.”
Viola’s lips thinned and her eyes hardened. “I don’t do relays.”
“Why not? With your speed, I thought they’d kill to have you on the team.” Not usually a violent person, she wanted to hit whoever decided Viola wasn’t good enough for the relay. Her sister didn’t deserve such blatant rejection.
“Oh, they want me on the team. I’m the one who said no.”
“Why?”
Viola twisted the cap off her sports drink and took a swig of the icy liquid. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before putting the cap back on. “I don’t do team sports.”
“Viola.” Olivia couldn’t understand why Viola had such a hard time dealing with her peers. Their high school experiences were completely different. She’d been on every committee, a Student Council member, Class Secretary for four years, and part of the court for nearly every dance. Viola ran track and hung out with outcasts.
“Sweet mercy Liv, can’t you just be happy for me? I beat my 100-meter dash record and set a new school javelin throw record. Why does there always have to be more?”
“Oh, honey.” Olivia wrapped an arm around Viola’s shoulders. She ignored the sweat soaking into her patterned blue blouse. Comforting her sister was more important than a dry clean only garment. “I am so proud of you.”
Viola nodded. It wasn’t worth arguing over, really. She and Olivia were different. They had different goals and different priorities. Viola had accepted it years earlier. She wished Olivia would do the same. She needed to do her part, though, and stop being such a brat all the time.
“Give me a sec to talk to Coach about going home with you. He’s so thrilled with my new records, he won’t dare tell me no.” She pressed a kiss to Olivia’s cheek before slipping out from under Olivia’s arm and darting off in search of Coach Miller.
Olivia folded the damp towel and set it inside the gym bag’s main compartment on top of Viola’s windbreaker. She zipped it up, tucked the medals inside their pocket, and zipped that pocket up as well. By the time Viola returned, all her things were packed and ready to go.
“I was thinking,” Olivia said as they neared her car, “that you and I could head out to the mall after you shower and change clothes. There’s a sale at that store you like and then we could grab dinner at the Italian place Sebastian hates.”
“Where’s Bas going to be?”
“He and Duke are helping out with a demon that got away from Bert.”
Viola’s eyes lit up. Shopping with Liv or demon hunting with Bas? There really was no doubt which she preferred. One look at the Olivia’s face, slightly hopeful but braced for rejection, stilled her tongue. She playfully nudged her sister’s shoulder. “You going to let me buy that skirt I wanted?”
“Not a chance, honey. Bas would kill us both!” Relieved she wasn’t being passed over in favor of demons, Olivia grinned and swatted the back of Viola’s head. “I can’t be expected to monitor everything you buy, though. So, if a pair of those jeans he bitched about and threw away finds their way into your shopping bag…”
Viola laughed. She pounced on Olivia, hugged her until the older woman gasped for air. “Thanks, Liv! I love you.”
“Love you too, sis.”
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