Who: Dan and Liv What: Dan accompanies Liv back to Seattle to meet her mother When: Back dated to late summer Where: Liv's childhood home, Seattle, WA Rating/Warnings: G / None Status: Complete!
Liv sat in the passenger seat of the car, staring at the house in front of her. A house that was familiar. A house that she had been to a million times before. Her child hood home.
Only now it was different. She hadn’t been back here in years. At first because she was too ashamed to face her family after what happened. After she had made a mistake in surgery and killed someone. A mistake that still haunted her and had left her depressed for months after it happened. She had needed to get out of Seattle, away from it all. Start over somewhere new. And she had… and then she became a zombie. There was no way she could face her family like that, let her mother see her like that. So she stayed away. Of course she kept in contact, but it had been about four years since the last time she saw her mom.
To say she was nervous was an understatement. But Dan was there with her and that was helping a little bit. She knew he’d be there for her, that he loved her even knowing what she was. Her mom would too, right? Not that she was planning on announcing that she was a zombie or anything. But still she looked different.
Liv was on brain tubes too. They didn’t taste all that great but she wanted to make sure she was completely herself when she saw her mom, and maybe even brother again. She didn’t want to be influenced by anyone else’s personalities.
“Thanks,” Liv said to Dan eyes still glued to the house, not moving yet. “For coming with me.”
Cross-country drives were not among Dan’s favorite things. He preferred flying whenever possible and first class at that. But taking a plane from Orange County to Seattle had been out of the question. Getting the brain tubes past the FTC would have been a trick neither he nor Liv really wanted to deal with. So driving it had been.
And it hadn’t been a bad drive. A nice leisurely trek up the California coast had been nice, even beautiful in some spots. And it was good to get out of the county for a few days.
Now the two of them were parked outside the Moore residence. He could feel Liv’s nerves and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous himself. He was meeting Liv’s family for the first time and he wanted to make a good impression. Plus, there was no real way to tell how this visit was going to go. Questions were going to be asked. Awkward questions.
He looked at Liv when she spoke. “Of course, Darlin’,” he said. She didn’t move her eyes from the house. Dan’s mouth twitched slightly and he reached over to take her hand. “I’ll be right beside you,” he said. “I promise.”
Liv swallowed and nodded. It did help knowing that Dan was there. That no matter how this went she had someone that loved her for her. Zombie and all.
“Okay,” Liv said taking a breath and giving Dan’s hand a tiny squeeze. “Let’s do this.” Before she could change her mind she let go of Dan’s hand so she could get out of the car. But once Dan was out of the car as well Liv reached for his hand again, needing that comfort from him.
Slowly Liv made her way up to the door and rang the bell. She had told her mom she would be coming to town, not wanting to take her by surprise. So at least she knew Liv was coming, and bringing Dan.
Of course Eva knew who Dan was. She had heard her daughter talk about him plenty of times on the phone. The woman was excited to finally meet the man, and of course see her daughter. It had been almost five years since the last time Eva saw her daughter. She knew why Liv needed to leave, but she never understood why she had never come back or even let Eva go visit her in Orange County. But none of that mattered now. She was finally going to see her daughter.
However, when Eva answered the door there was a look of shock on her face. “Liv?” she asked barely recognizing the woman before her.
Liv swallowed. Of course she had been expecting this reaction but it still stung a bit. “Hi, Mom.”
Dan had expected the shocked expression on Ms. Moore’s face the first time she saw Liv. Her zombie appearance was a drastic contrast from her human appearance. But Dan was prepared to play it off as no big deal. It was natural for people to change their appearance, especially when they were starting over somewhere new, right? It signified that change. Hopefully that’s what Ms. Moore would think. Hopefully.
Normally, Dan would have waited patiently to be introduced, but sensing things were about to go sideways, he stepped forward and reach out to Ms. Moore to introduce himself and hopefully delay the inevitable conversation concerning Liv’s appearance, at least until they were inside. “Ms. Moore, I’m Dan Smith,” he said, extending his hand. “It’s a pleasure to finally be able to meet you.”
Normally Liv had much better manners. She would have introduced her boyfriend to her mother under normal circumstances. But right now introducing Dan was the last thing on Liv’s mind. Her mother’s reaction was tough. She knew it would be hard, she just didn’t know it’d be this hard. It was like her mom didn’t even know who she was. Which to be fair, she technically didn’t anymore. She was grateful when Dan stepped in filling the silence and introducing himself, she gave Dan’s hand that was still in hers a small squeeze to show her appreciation while his other hand reached out for her mother’s.
Eva quickly gained her composure placing a smile on her face as she took Dan’s hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you too,” she replied shaking his hand. “But please call me Eva,” she released his hand turning her attention back to Liv. “It’s good to see you, Liv.” Though there was still some shock at her daughter’s appearance, the smile on her face was genuine. “Please, come in.”
“It’s good to see you too, mom,” Liv replied her own smile on her face as they stepped inside. “Dan has been wanting to meet you for awhile.”
Things seemed to be going much smoother now. Dan knew that eventually the topic of Liv’s appearance would come up, but at least Eva was genuinely happy to see her daughter and that made Dan happy. Hopefully by the time they had to talk about Liv’s hair and “make-up” (not to mention her affinity for spicy foods), it would just be a curious question posed by her mother and not made into a bigger deal than it needed to be.
Dan followed Liv and her mother inside the house. “I have,” he nodded with a smile. “Unfortunately between Liv’s and my schedules, this is the first chance we’ve gotten to make the trip. I finally got a part time bar tender I’m able to trust watchin’ my bar for a few days.” And hopefully Orange County would remain quiet in those few days. As much as Dan trusted Sara to handle things on her own, it wouldn’t have been fair to go on vacation and let her handle the madness on her own.
Eva led them into the living room motioning for them to take a seat. “Liv hasn’t brought anyone home in quite some time,” she commented. Or been home for that matter. But if Dan was part of the reason Liv finally came back to visit than Eva liked him already. “What accent am I detecting?”
Hand in Dan’s she took a seat on the couch relieved that the attention was on him for a bit and not on herself. It was hard enough coming home as it was. Not to mention how much she had changed since the last time she had been home. She hadn’t realized how much she actually needed Dan with her until she was there. Dan chuckled a bit as he took a seat on the couch next to Liv. “I’m from Detroit originally,” he said. He was fully aware that his accent didn’t sound like anything someone might expect from a man who was born and raised in Detroit. “My grandparents came over from Ireland in the ‘60’s,” he went on. “My father was a kid when they moved and he never really lost the accent. I picked it up from him.”
Liv personally loved Dan’s accent. It was one of his many charms. She wasn’t surprised at all that her mother had asked about it.
“That’s interesting,” Eva replied to Dan’s explanation. She hadn’t heard of an accent passing down a generation before but she supposed it made sense. “So you and Olivia have been together how long now?”
“Almost two years,” Liv chimed in for Dan not missing a beat. Saying it out loud though, it was weird to think about. They had been through so much together already. Liv could still remember the time they couldn’t be together like it was yesterday.
In a weird way it didn’t seem like two years. It felt as though Dan had wandered into Liv’s morgue just yesterday trying to slip a wedding ring on the finger of a dead man, but at the same time with everything that they’d been through, it felt as though Dan had known Liv his entire life. He took her hand and gave Eva a smile. “She charmed me,” he said, half-jokingly. “I’ve never met anyone like her. I don’t know I got so lucky.”
“Stop,” Liv said nudging Dan with her shoulder her cheeks reddening just a bit. “I’m the lucky one.”
“She’s certainly something,” Eva agreed. “She’s changed a lot since she moved.” And Eva wasn’t just talking about Liv’s new look. There was a certain sadness in her tone too, missing the daughter she knew.
Dan noted the hint of sadness in Eva’s voice. He figured it was only natural for a parent to miss their child, even when they were grown adults and living lives of their own. But that was the nature of things. Liv had even changed since Dan had known her. Not the switching of personality traits every month, but how far the two of them had come in their relationship. The challenges and hurdles they’d managed to overcome together. For the first time, Dan really thought about just how much the two of them had accomplished together.
“Well,” he said carefully, looking back at Eva. “People change. And change can be good. Fer the better, you know? She’s still Liv, though,” he smiled. “That ain’t gonna change.”
Liv gave Dan a small smile. He did know her better than anyone. Or at least the person she was now. He had only known her as a zombie after all. But this was who she was, and if Dan could love her, hopefully her mom still could too. And her brother.
And with that thought.
“Now that you two have finally met. Where’s Evan?” Even if she was nervous how he would react as well, having already done it with her mom made it easier. And she did want Dan to meet her brother too.
“He’ll be home in a few hours,” Eva replied. “Why don’t we go show Dan around for a bit.”