AUTHOR’S NOTE: With the OLTL reboot a go now, I was trying to imagine how they would kick things off and this is what came to me. While not the very first scenes that I could imagine having Bo/Nora in them, these would be the first scenes of substance. Since I have no idea when OLTL will actually premiere, I’m setting this in the early part of March. Also, I am not too keen on the idea of Bo being Police Commissioner anymore (it seems to distract too much from him and Nora which is what I really want to see) but since they mentioned on GH he was back in the job, I’m rolling with it for the sake of continuity. Some of you might hate this story because I rolled with things how they were at the end of OLTL and didn’t make Destiny disappear but I figured what happened happened so I would roll with it. So, without further ado...
Welcome Home: A Bo and Nora Short Story
The early morning hours of March 9, 2013
Nora walked into the formal living room at the mansion and collapsed on the couch. Champagne glasses and tiny plates of unfinished food lay strewn across the room. Moments later, Bo followed her into the room after letting the last of the guests out the front door and locking up. He smiled at the sight of his love, sitting on the couch, her head back and eyes closed. Quietly, he made his way to the corner stereo system and pressed play on the cd player.
The strains of "Strangers On The Shore" began to fill the room and Nora smiled without opening her eyes. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, I don't know. There was just so much music tonight and yet so little dancing. I thought maybe we could remedy that."
Nora opened her eyes and he was standing over her, his hand offered to her. She slipped her own into his and allowed him to pull her up from the couch before leading her to the elevated seating area by the windows. The furniture had been removed for the evening’s events and it made for a perfect make shift dance floor. He pulled her into his arms and she rested her head on his shoulder and allowed herself to be swept away.
"It was quite a day, wasn’t it?"
"Honey," Bo replied into her hair, "it's been quite a year."
So many things had changed in their lives over the past year. Mayor Finn had gone off the deep end and wound up being removed from her position and brought up on collusion charges with the states attorney. The Governor had immediately appointed Viki to fill the position until a special election could be held. The special election was set to be held in May and as of yet, Viki was running unopposed.
Former Mayor Finn had left the office in such turmoil, Viki had convinced Nora to leave the DA’s office and join her staff as Chief Legal Council and Advisor. It had actually been a nice change of pace for Nora. Once they had managed to get a handle on everything that had happened under Mayor Finn’s reign, things had settled down and Nora could almost say she kept banking hours these days.
As for Bo, Viki had immediately offered him his old position as Police Commissioner. However, for once neither Bo or Nora knew if that was the right choice for him anymore. Bo was getting too old to keep up with the younger officers and after his last gun shot wound, courtesy of Troy McIver, the doctors had warned him about anymore serious injuries. Besides, in the months that he had been away from the Llanview PD, he had discovered he had started to enjoy being able to spend more time with his family.
So, after consulting with Viki and Nora it was determined he would return to the department in an amended Police Commissioner’s role. Now days, his job was much more administrative and while every once in awhile he got in on the action of questioning a suspect, for the most part he was home for dinner every night. There was a new pace to their lives and for people who had always been so busy they found that they actually enjoyed this life.
With the DA’s position open, Nora, Bo and Viki had tag teamed Hank until he had agreed to move back to Llanview and resume his old roll. He finished the fall semester at the Law School and then moved back to Llanview just after the first of the year. Even Rachel had made plans to return home sometime in the summer. Life was very, very good for their little family.
“Have I told you what a beautiful Matron of Honor you made?”
Nora felt her cheeks flush. “Only 100 times with your words and a few thousand times with your eyes. As beautiful as Viki and Clint’s ceremony was, I couldn’t take my eyes of the best man.”
Bo’s laugh rumbled through his chest and across her cheek. “I still can’t quite believe my brother asked me. It wasn’t too long ago that we were trying to destroy each other. It was a beautiful day and he and Viki deserve to be happy.”
After a few moments, she lifted her head and looked into Bo’s eyes. “Do you think Clint has truly changed?”
Bo thought a moment and shrugged. “Maybe in some ways. And in other ways no. This crusade he’s on to keep John away from Natalie and Liam is a bit extreme. But, on the other hand, he gave you back the mansion simply because Asa wanted you to have it.”
Nora looked around the room. They had moved into the mansion just a little over 9 months previous and had slowly started to turn it into their home. They had painted walls with warmer colors, changed out artwork and started to make the mansion feel more like they were living in their home and less like they were invading Asa’s home. While they had made only small changes to the formal entertaining areas of the home, they had made significant changes to bedrooms and the family room upstairs.
“Yeah, it turns out there are fewer ghosts roaming these old halls than I expected. It has really turned into a wonderful environment for little Drew to grow up in.”
In the months after Drew had been born, Matthew and Destiny had not had an easy time connecting as parents or as two people trying to build a relationship. After a very rough spring and early summer, they had approached their parents about the possibility of them leaving Drew in Llanview while they went off to school in an effort to try to try to build their relationship so that they might be able to parent Drew together.
Once ground rules had been laid down and agreed upon, it had been decided that because of work schedules, Drew would live with Bo and Nora during the week and with the Evans family on the weekends. And because Matthew and Destiny had gone to school in Texas, Bo and Nora had already taken a long weekend trip to the ranch each month so that Drew could spend time with his parents. And while for Drew’s sake, Nora hoped that Matthew and Destiny could find a way to be a family she also hoped for Matthew’s sake that he wouldn’t just settle for a life that was filled with less than a wonderful love. She had settled far too many times to ever want that for either of her children.
Bo’s voice broke through Nora’s thoughts. “ I sure do miss the little guy. I know it’s good for him to spend Spring Break with Matthew and Destiny, but it sure makes the house seem very. very quiet.”
Nora looked up into Bo’s eyes and smiled at the sparkle she saw there when he spoke of Drew. Besides having the opportunity to practice being the best Bubee and Pop in the whole world and spoiling Drew rotten, the best part of having him around all the time was getting to experience all of his “firsts” with Bo. First words, first steps, first smiles. Unfortunately, and through no fault of his own, he had lost all of those moments with his own sons so to see him experience them with their grandson made Nora love him and Drew even more.
He was loving and involved in every aspect from midnight feedings to bath time to cleaning up dirty diapers and spit-up when needed. Seeing him that involved made him even more sexy to Nora than ever, if that was even possible. She remembered one day, coming home from work to find Bo in the living room in his LPD sweats with a sleeping Drew on his shoulder, drool soaking the front of his shirt and being so turned on by the sight that all she could do was laugh at herself and wonder if there was something wrong with her.
Nora fingered the buttons on Bo’s tux shirt. “I know it seems strange not having him here but I do think I have something to get your mind off of the quiet.”
Bo smiled down at her. “Oh you do, do you? And what would that be?”
Nora bit her lower lip. “We’ve got the next seven days all to ourselves and I have plans for us Mr. Buchanan. Over the next seven nights, I have planned for us seven dates. Just you and me and some of our favorite activities.”
Nora laughed. “Get your mind out of the gutter Commish.”
“But it’s such a fun place to be, especially when you are there with me. Do I even get a preview of these seven dates for seven nights?”
“Nope. No previews. You will just have to trust me. It will be worth your while.”
Bo looked at his wife for a moment trying to determine whether he should keep pressuring for more information before sighing and releasing her from their dance. “I suppose I can live with that. Everyone needs a little excitement in their life. And now, I suppose we should clean this place up a little bit.”
“Oh no, Commish,” Nora replied as she began to unbutton his shirt and slipped her warm fingers under to touch his chest. “We have much, much more important things to do right now.”
“Uhm...” Bo started before clearing his throat. “I thought you said there would be no preview of the dates.”
Nora’s eyes were sultry as she stared into the depths of her husband’s, the love of her life’s, blue orbs. “Oh, I did. But I said nothing about previewing what will be happening at the end of those dates. Take me upstairs Bo.”
Bo raised her fingers to his lips and kissed them lightly before grasping her hand before leading her out of the room, turning off the lights as they went. Moments later he walked back in the room, grabbing a still chilling bottle of champagne and two clean glasses before returning to his love, taking her hand and leading her upstairs.