Title: Valentine's Tease
Author: ZombieJazz
Fandom: Law & Order: SVU
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Law and Order SVU and its characters belong to Dick Wolf. The characters of Will (and his family) and Noah have been created and developed for the sake of this AU series.
Summary: O/S Valentine's interlude set up in the Liv/Will/Noah AU for the fans of that series of stories. Some reference to the red dress scene in Monster's Legacy.
Will sighed and glanced at his watch again. He was already in his coat in the foyer of their brownstone – and had been for about ten minutes. It'd actually been ten minutes since his wife had told him she'd be down in a minute - which he'd taken as an indication he should start readying himself to go out the door. He'd clearly misunderstood what 'down in a minute' meant and was now starting to overheat. But he knew as soon as he took his coat off – she'd appear.
"Liv, com'on, let's go," he called as he stepped down the narrow hallway and gazed up to the top of the stairs – where he couldn't see any sign of her, nor could he hear enough movement to gauge if she was in the bedroom or bathroom – or if she was even still breathing up there.
But then she called back – clearly from the bathroom, "You did make a reservation, right?"
He sighed louder and rolled his eyes a little bit – only because he knew she couldn't see it. "Yes, Liv. It's Valentine's Day. I'm not stupid. I know we needed a reservation …"
"Well – you only told me about any of this last night. So you were able to get a reservation, right?" she called out again – in her authoritative, expected confirmation tone.
She'd been nagging him about it since she got in the door – late – from work. Of course, she'd been skeptical about it enough when he'd brought it up the night before – that he was taking her out for Valentine's, that he had the babysitter coming over and reservations made. He thought she was outright going to decline going. Sometimes it felt like he wasn't ever allowed to surprise her or do something nice for her – not without asking permission first.
"Yea, I've got a reservation," he confirmed for her again. "But if you don't hurry up – we're going to miss it. What are you doing up there anyways? Dressing for the Oscars? Hurry up."
She'd booted him out of their upstairs bedroom area as soon as she'd finished showering upon her whirlwind arrival from work. He'd gaped at her in disbelief.
"I need to get ready too," he protested. "Is there some reason I can't get changed up here?"
She shrugged at him and glanced at him in the mirror above their dresser, where she was starting to work on brushing and drying her hair. "I just want some privacy. Just take you stuff downstairs – use that bathroom or change in Noah's room," she said and gestured at where he'd laid his clothes out on the bed and had just been about to change.
He gaped at her more. "Seriously?"
She nodded a bit more sternly. "Yes, Will," she said. So he sighed and started to collect his clothes before ducking into the bathroom to grab a couple of his own toiletries too. He thought she was being more ridiculous. "Try to get Noah to eat something before we head out too," she ordered as he started down the stairs.
He glanced at her and sighed again. His Valentine's Day plans weren't going exactly as planned so far. And, with the rate she was getting ready at – he was starting to think the entire plan was going to be a bust soon.
He looked into the living room where Noah and his babysitter were working at setting up a game of Memory.
Kimberly was in for a rude awakening. Noah kicked ass at that game. Will thought he had a good memory and was great at deduction and picking out patterns - but Noah still seemed to win the stupid matching game the majority of the time. To the point that Will had tried to figure out some probability equations for his deductions to make sure he was picking more of the matching cards. But after Noah found his first two pairs – that seemed to be it. It was just flip, flip, flip, flip. Will might as well not even be playing with him. Olivia said it was because he was thinking too much about a game designed for children ages three and up.
"You don't need a math equation or some gamification theorem to play, Will. Just match the cards," she teased him.
Of course she seemed to beat him at the game near constantly too. He was starting to suspect that both her and Noah had some sort of cheating scheme. Or maybe she was just really good at observation and deduction too. That'd make sense – sort of – it was her job.
"I'll be down in a minute," Olivia called at him again. Will wondered if that meant in another ten minutes. "Where's the reservation?"
He snorted and again rolled his eyes. Further evidence that his wife and surprises didn't go together. She'd asked that multiple times already too.
"I'm still not telling you that," he said, his one foot on the first step now as he thought about if he should break his exciled status and go up there and try to hurry her along.
"OK. Which part of town?" she asked instead. Apparently she thought a rephrased question might yield a better clue.
"I'm not telling you that either."
"Not Little Italy, right?" she called at him with that edge to her voice again that said she was sure he'd likely screwed this up.
"No, Olivia," he sighed more audibly and slightly annoyed. "You've made very clear numerous times that Italian is not a suitable option for special occasions. And you made very clear this morning that you did not want to be eating in Little Italy. I heard you."
"So where then?" she asked.
"Get down here – and I'll show you. I'll take you to where we're going," he called and shook his head and looked back to the living room where he saw Kimberly was gazing at him with a smirk. He gave her a smile. "In a few years don't you be doing this to your boyfriend," he told her. "You'll drive him crazy and not in a good way."
The girl blushed a little bit and looked back to Noah who seemed pretty oblivious to the on-goings. But the little boy was very used to how he and his mother interacted – or rather bickered back-and-forth. To Noah it was normal. The bickering might as well be proclamations of love as far as Noah was concerned. They seemed to be as far as Will and Olivia were too.
Will finally saw movement at the top of the stairs and glanced back up there. His eyes initially landed on her face in his upward gaze – but then quickly moved scanning the rest of her body, as he very nearly slack-jawed gaped at her.
His eyes moved first back down to her feet and her heels that near perfectly matched her skin tone before working up her legs and defined calves to where the dress fell just above her knees. It was a deep red. Will found himself almost thinking of it was a blaze red as his eyes reached her hips and observed how the material hugged there – before his eyes wandered up higher and settled a little too long on how the V-neck seemed to come down in a way that just accentuated her breasts even more. He finally managed to move beyond that – tracing his eyes up her chest and bare shoulders – her long, bare olive arms before finally coming back to her face – her lips – and then again to her eyes.
She gave him a small smile and a slight shake of the head as she finished coming down the steps. His hand immediately landing on her hip and placing a kiss against her cheek – near her jaw line – as she did.
"Wow," he mouthed, as he stepped back from her and examined her again. "You look amazing."
She gave him another little – almost coy – smile and worked at adjusting his metallic red bowtie that was peaking out through his unbuttoned coat.
"So this is why you weren't upstairs looking for help with tying your tie," she teased again.
"Like it?" he asked.
She adjusted it a little bit more – trying to get it to sit slightly differently than it was.
"Just when I thought you couldn't get anymore nutty professor on me …" she said drily. "I could get used to it."
He allowed a small smile. He knew she would think it was quirky – but he also knew that she'd come to like his quirks. So now he sometimes just tried to push her buttons with it. The fact she hadn't said something awful and made him go change – meant that she didn't mind it – that she likely even sort of liked it.
"I could get used to this too," he said, still examining her. Though with the position they were standing in - while she still fiddled a bit with the bowtie and smoothing her palm over the buttons and front of his charcoal shirt – it almost felt like he was looking down her front. Not that he really minded that view either – nor was she protesting his gaze. "New dress?"
"You're very observant, Will," she teased, as she finished her minor adjustments of his attire.
He gave her a little smile. "Maybe we should be sending Kimberly out with Noah to our reservation – and we'll stay here," he suggested and wagged his eyebrow a bit.
She rolled her eyes and whacked him in the centered of the chest with the back of her hand before moving off towards the closet to retrieve her coat.
"I don't think so," she told him. "Part of the fun of getting dressed up is making you look at it for a while."
Will snorted and moved along with her, taking her coat from her hands as she took it off the hanger and holding it out to help her out it on.
"Ooooh, I'm looking," he said, as he slipped the warm material up and over her bare shoulders. She was going to need the coat against the cold in a dress like that.
"Sweets, come say goodbye to me and Daddy, please," she called as she started fastening the coat.
Their son galloped into the foyer before she got it too far done up and his face light up at the red dress too. "YOU LOOK LIKE A VALENTINE, MOM!" he declared.
Olivia let out a small laugh at that and smiled, crouching down more to his height. "Then you better give me some hugs and kisses – because you know those are always on a Valentine," she told him.
Noah didn't have to be asked twice yet to bestow affections on his mother and crushed into her. Olivia held him tightly for several seconds and Will saw how her eyes drifted shut momentarily in the little boy's embrace.
She was always trying to enjoy every last one of them from her little boy – like there might not be another. But they'd all been through enough they knew not to take for granted that there would ever be another. She eventually pulled away from him slightly and planted two short kisses against his cheek before reaching up to wipe away at the near invisible mark that her no-smudge lipstick had left.
"You be good for Kim," she urged Noah as she thumbed at his cheek. "And, you go to bed when she tells you, sweets. I want you in bed and asleep when we get home."
"But Moooom…" he whined.
Olivia just shook her head and caught his eyes firmly. "It's a school night," she told him seriously. "You're going to bed on time, Noah. No arguing."
He huffed at her and crossed his arms tightly. But she gave him the stern mommy look that even Will couldn't really stand looking at for too long. And, Noah shortly let out the breath in his puffed chest and his shoulders slumped forward.
"Fine," he said in a way that hinted that those pre-teen years are likely creeping up on them far quicker than they even wanted to imagine.
"Good boy," Olivia said and tapped his butt off in Will's direction. "Say good-bye to Daddy."
Will grabbed him by the armpits and shook him around a little bit to some giggles before hoisting his weight further up his chest and settling Noah against him – giving him a hug but still rocking him slightly side-to-side.
"So, we're listening to Mommy, right?" he confirmed. "You're going to be behaving for Kim and in bed by 8:30?"
Noah sighed at him. "Yes, Daddy."
Will nodded. "I hope so – because I want a good report so we can go to the comic book store this weekend."
Noah eyed him – like he was trying to call his bluff. Will wasn't bluffing, though. Threats of having their weekly comic shop visit revoked seemed to work even better than skimming his allowance. It had taken follow-through a couple times but after Noah realized it wasn't just a veil threat – it had been working wonders. Or at least it was for the moment. Who knew how long it would last.
"I'll be good," Noah assured him.
Will smiled and give him his own small kiss before returning him to the floor. "Good."
"So – we should be back by about midnight at the latest," Olivia told their babysitter, poking her head back into the living room as Noah trotted back in there. "Call us if anything at all comes up. All his medical information – his nurse and doctor's phone numbers are on the fridge. His night pills are sitting on his bedside table. So just make sure he takes them with a full glass of water when he goes down."
"Yes, Mrs. McTeague," Kim nodded quietly.
Will smiled a little. Somehow the Gomez girls got away with calling Olivia that. They were about the only ones. And, he thought the only reason they were allowed was because it was usually him that ended up arranging the babysitting and they might not even realize what Liv's surname was. She probably didn't want to chastise or correct them on the risk it might intimidate them and send their main, and trusted, babysitting options packing.
The Gomezes only lived five doors down and their two teenaged daughters had proven to be trustworthy and responsible – and Noah seemed to like them and behave for them. Maybe more importantly – Olivia liked and trusted their parents and liked that responsible adults were so close by should something come up with their little boy while they were out.
The girls took turns babysitting Noah – and sharing the wealth of the babysitting dollars. The information Olivia had just prattled off wasn't new to the girl – but she still repeated it every time they went out.
Will knew Olivia probably would've preferred Rachel – the older of the two girls. But Rachel was a senior in high school now - and had her own boyfriend and plans for Valentine's Day. At 15, he and Liv probably still had a couple more years with Kimberly before she had her own plans on the various holidays and Friday and Saturday nights to be too interested in watching Noah for them. For now, though, Kimberly was just as capable as Rachel at entertaining the little boy anyways. She really just had to play and watch TV with him for a couple hours before he'd go to bed and she could watch her own shows, talk or text or surf on her phone or do her homework until they got home. They already had him fed and in his PJs for her.
"Is your sister coming over to hang out later?" Olivia asked a little hopefully. Often when Kimberly was alone with Noah, Rachel would come over later in the evening to keep the girl company if they planned to be out until the wee-hours of the next morning, which honestly didn't happen that much.
"No," Kim – the shyer of the two girls – said quietly. "She's on a date. But Mom said she'd check in when her and Dad get home. They're just going out to dinner. They won't be late."
"OK," Olivia said and glanced at Will.
Every time they went out, she seemed to have this hesitance about leaving. Will understood. Their little boy was sick. It was hard to leave him sometimes. But they also needed their own breaks and time alone – and a life, a chance to be a couple and individuals and people besides Noah's parents or their jobs. And the worry and hesitance was a little funny considering Noah was long over shedding tears or putting up a fight when they went on a date. Even now he was already back over at the coffee table – and very clearly cheating at the moment – picking up tiles and peaking at the pictures while his mother talked to his babysitter. He didn't care they were about to leave. He cared about winning the game – apparently by whatever means necessary.
Will grabbed his wife's elbow a bit. "Com'on, Liv, seriously," he urged. "They're fine – and if we don't get going, we really are going to miss our reservation at this point."
She nodded and gave another small smile to Kimberly.
"OK – night, sweets," she called at Noah again, who barely glanced at her. "I'll come in and give you a kiss when we get home."
"Bye Mom," Noah mumbled and flipped over a matching pair he'd 'found'. "FOUND ONE!"
Will snorted and tugged her elbow again. "Com'on," he said quietly.
She nodded and that time really did follow him out the front door, though stood and waited in clear indication that he was expected to lock it behind him – which he did.
She leaned in and gave him a small peck on the cheek as he did get it shut, and she finished pulling on her gloves.
"Oh, com'on," Will teased. "Noah got two. You need to share the wealth more than that."
That got a small smile from her but she glanced up and down the street a bit as he started to move down their few steps to the street.
"You have to woo me a bit more before you earn much more than that," she told him and took a hold of his offered hand as she made her way down the stairs in her heels.
"Mmm," Will smiled at that and linked his arm with hers as they started to walk down the street towards Columbus Avenue. "So what do I have to do to get the Valentine's Grand Slam?"
Liv shot him a bit of a disgusted look for that comment but then just shook her head. "Avoid saying things like that to start," she said. "And, not be taking me to any sort of sports match tonight where a grand slam is an actual thing."
Will gave her a bit of a shocked look. "Fuck," he declared and stopped in his tracks. "What am I going to do with these tickets then?" He watched her face – as that look washed over it where she was quickly trying to judge if he was being serious or just B. her. He let out a small laugh. "Relax," he smiled. "I'm smarter than that."
She snorted. "Some days I wonder."
Will shook his head and gave her a bit of a sideways look. "Yea. That's why I keep my PhD at the office – so you aren't always questioning where I bought it."
She smiled at him at that. "Where did you buy it again?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Some nice fellow sent me an email offering it up for a bargain basement price that I just couldn't turn down."
Liv nodded. "Ah. That explains a lot. Probably like why we're walking and not taking a cab … "
"Just a short walk," Will put back at her.
"So we're going somewhere close?" Liv asked, glancing at him a little surprised at that.
It wasn't like they'd spent a lot of time sampling the restaurants in their neighborhood. When they did go out on one-on-one dates they usually went a bit farther afield to really try to get away from the house for at least a couple hours. But even in the family dinners and brunches they'd had out – they hadn't really found anything in the Upper West Side that they were particularly enamored with beyond some of their coffee shops and breakfast spots. Taking her out for Valentine's in the Upper West Side likely would've been a bust – and he was smarter than that. And, even though the planetarium just down the street was holding what sounded like a great V-Day outing to him – he'd been smarter than that too.
"We're going somewhere close to grab a cab …" he allowed.
She sighed and rolled her eyes.
He didn't like her annoyed sound and look – but he didn't know what she wanted to him to do about it. He couldn't magically make a cab appear out of nowhere. He figured they were lucky they lived near a major roadway – because as amazing as she looked, her feet and legs looked a little cold. "We're almost to Columbus. I'll hail us one there. I didn't know you'd be walking anywhere in heels like that."
That at least seemed to earn a small smile and eased the momentary tension a bit.
"Your score card isn't doing too good so far to get that Valentine's Grand Slam ..." she allowed in a small tease back.
Will shrugged indifferently. "Ah well ... Noah never lets us sleep alone on date night anyways."
It was like he knew that maybe sex was on the table on date night and was bound-and-determined to wedge himself between them to keep that from happening. Or if he didn't end up in bed with them – it seemed to suddenly be a night where he wet the bed or was up puking. It was like they had some sort of date-night curse. Could get out of the house for a good time – but those good times didn't continue after they got into the bedroom most of the time.
Olivia seemed to acknowledge the reality of that statement and snorted but still shot him a look for his passiveness. "With that attitude you aren't even going to get a kiss goodnight on the stoop."
Will gave her a faux appalled face. "What? Not stoop make-out? That's the only reason I even plan date nights."
Liv snorted again even louder at that. "Oh, trust me, it shows."
Will gave her a more genuine smile and pulled his hand out of his pocket, breaking their linked arms and tugging her gloved hand from her coat pocket to hold in his. It earned him a returned smile.
"You dress like this on more of our date nights and maybe I'd try a little harder," he teased.
She let out a little laugh and gave him a look, jokingly yanking her hand away from his – though he kept their grip firm – not letting her get away.
"I think maybe you're supposed to more focused on thinking about working towards what's under the attire than the actual attire," she instructed him at that. "Dating 101, Will. The package – not the packaging."
Will met her eyes at that. "Ooooh. Is that so? Some how I thought I was supposed to thinking about what's here and here ...", reaching his opposite hand out and tapping it gently against her heart before moving to knock to rap his knuckles again her head.
She jerked her head away from him a bit. "Don't mess up my hair."
He rolled his eyes at her. She could be such a girl sometimes. Sometimes he forgot just how amazingly feminine she could be – then she'd do something like wear a show-stopper dress and get all finicky about her hair and make-up.
"OK - I'll save that for later," he put back at her.
She snorted again and gave him another look – a little too teasingly. "Maybe … If you're lucky."
He laughed and smiled. "Yeah. Exactly. If I get lucky. But you kind of came with about the most expensive contraceptive in the world. So I'm not keeping my hopes up with anything else."
She smiled a bit more widely at that and looked at him. "But he's really cute contraceptive," she added on behalf of their son.
Will grinned a little and nodded in agreement. "He is ... But how much did he cost last year again?"
Olivia gave him another small snort for his efforts and shook her head. "Don't even think about it - or his mood-killing powers are working their magic before you even convince me to let you into my bed."
"Our bed," Will corrected.
She shook her head more firmly at that. "Hmm. No. My bed. We tossed yours."
It was Will's turn to snort at that and to roll his eyes. "I love you," he informed her sarcastically.
She gave him that shit-eating smirk of hers – that he really was completely in love with, no matter how much of a smart-ass it made her look sometimes. She could pull it off.
"I know," she told him.
Will just gave her another small headshake and looked up and down the street. He couldn't see a cab in sight at the moment. But he knew there would be one by soon. It was a busy intersection and it was around dinner on a greeting-card holiday. He'd be able to wave something down for them soon – he hoped.
"You ever stop think that maybe you won over the head and heart a little quickly but took what ... another year to get the rest of this," Olivia said as she waited for him to get their ride in order, gesturing again at her outfit, even though most of was hidden under her winter coat at the moment. "Maybe you should reflect on why that was ..." she teased.
He glanced at her – and held up his hand as he spotted an available taxi coming their way. "Oh. I know why …" he said as the cab pulled up and he opened the door for her to get in. "It was my cardigans," he added as she took her seat and arranged herself – but he took her a bit off guard and she let out a loud, hearty laugh and smiled widely at him.
"I did hate your cardigans," she told him, as he got in too. "They were so frumpy professor."
He smiled. "Hmm. Yeah. But I'd like to point out that someone else in the house now has their own giant collection of cardigans and assorted sweaters."
Liv snorted at him and slapped him lightly in the center of the chest with the back of her hand. "I was just trying to keep up with your fashion sense."
Will smiled more at her – leaning slightly into her, "Ooooh. You know what I like ..." he said in a fakery seductive voice, meeting her eyes for a moment before leaning up to the cabbie. "South Ferry, please," he told the driver.
Liv looked at him with wider and disbelieving eyes as he settled back into his seat. "South Ferry?" she asked. "What the hell are we doing?"
Will shrugged. "I know how much you love taking the ferry back-and-forth to Staten Island. Thought it'd be a good, cheap date."
She gaped at him for a moment and then settled back into her seat a bit more too – widening the gap between them a bit and breaking the bit of physical touch they'd had as they huddled in the back seat. She rubbed at her eyebrow and considered their destination.
"If this date includes Valentine's dinner at your parents – we might be getting a divorce," she finally said.
Will looked at her and said flatly, "What if it includes a luxurious stay in the loft above my brother's garage?"
She shook her head at him. "Then I'm getting out of this cab now."
Will smiled more and then took her hand again, pulling it into his lap and shifting his knees to invade some of her space again until she let hers knock against his. "We aren't going to Staten Island. It's a surprise. You'll like it. I promise."
She considered him. "I don't know what there's to like at the ferry terminal," she said.
He shrugged. "I guess you'll just have to wait and see."
They hadn't really talked for the rest of the cab ride down. Though, Olivia had kept a hold of his hand and eventually settled her one shoulder and some of her weight against him as she gazed out the window at the passing traffic and city lights.
The ride actually proved to be fairly quick considering the time of day and that lots of people were likely trying to get to where they were going for their various dates and non-dates and Valentine's and Anti-Valentine's and wine-and-dine events. Will was thankful for that, though. He thought they were cutting things kind of close at that point.
After he'd settled the fare and gone around to open his wife's door, he took her hand and gestured on their walk down to the dock. "One of the charter boats is boarding here tonight," he clarified her as they made the walk over and he suspected she was really starting to wonder if he was bluffing about the Staten Island Ferry or not.
She snorted at that and looked at him – a little teasingly but with an underlying seriousness too. "Will – are you taking me on a booze cruise?"
He rolled his eyes and looked at her seriously. "No," he filled in with a touch of firmness so she knew not to knock it too much before she tried it – since he was really trying to do something nice for her, for them. "It's a romantic Valentine's Day cruise. With a fancy dinner and champagne and live music and dancing. And views of the city."
He gestured a bit at the boat – a rather luxurious four-deck yacht – as they got into the line of people waiting to board. He started to dig again to reach his inside pocket to retrieve their boarding passes and dinner reservation tickets – but Olivia leaned in closer to him.
"And full of tourists," she said a bit more quietly to him, likely not to offend anyone around them - but him. Offending him rarely seemed to matter – until after the fact.
Will glanced at the line of couples ahead of them and the couple that had already queued up behind them. They all just looked like sweethearts dressed up for a night out to him.
"I have no idea if they're tourists," he put plainly. "You want to start asking people where they're from? I'm sure the tourists will be very excited to get the chance to talk to a real-live NYPD detective."
She eyed him – a little surprised at the tone in his comeback. Maybe she had still just been teasing. But he got the sense there was definitely some truth about her distaste of spending an evening surrounded by tourists in the tease.
"So who should we start the small talk with first?" he asked and gestured to couple ahead of them who were more than likely overhearing their conversation.
Olivia just held his eyes and stayed silent. He finally sighed and broke the eye contact – going back to retrieving the pieces of paper from his pocket. Sometimes she drove him crazy. It felt like there was no pleasing her. He'd thought she'd like the cruise. It combined a lot of things she normally enjoyed on an evening out. He hadn't considered that the number of tourists on the boat versus New Yorkers might affect her perspective on if it was a quality Valentine's – or even date – activity. But she made no further comment for the moment as they inched their way towards the gangway.
Just as he handed the tickets to the crewmate at the bottom of the ramp checking people's paperwork, she leaned in again and quietly stated, "We better have a private table."
He rolled his eyes and glanced at her as the young man gestured for them to make their way onboard. "Oh, only the best for you, babe," he said a little sarcastically at that point. He still was feeling a little stung. "Not just a private table – but a private, window table." She gave him a small smile but he just gestured for her to lead the way. "Ladies first."
She snorted – now clearly thinking he was over-reacting, though she wasn't saying it. But she stepped ahead of him, passing another crew member who held out a single red rose in her direction. "For the lady," he offered.
Olivia smiled more widely and genuinely at the man and took it – twisting it slightly in her fingers and holding it out to show off a little smartly to Will before turning her attention back to the incline in heels.
"He hands you a rose and gets a smile - and what do I get? You know - technically - I paid for that rose. It's part of the package," he mumbled as he followed behind her.
She turned as she got to the top and waited for him – holding on her hand and then very nearly grabbing his as he reached the deck. She squeezed it tightly.
"You make me smile lots, Will," she assured him, with a much larger seriousness and firmness to the statement – her eyes speaking volumes. The teasing was over. She knew she'd hurt his feelings – and that clearly wasn't her intention. So he needed to let it go too so they could enjoy the rest of the evening.
"Welcome aboard," a female crew member greeted again as they got a couple steps away from the gangway and held out her hand for their dinner reservations. She examined them as Will handed them to her. "You'll be dining in the piano bar tonight," she said. "It's on the balcony level. You'll find the steps up – just down there," she gestured.
Will gave a small nod and took the tickets back, again leading his wife down the deck towards the stairs.
"Piano bar?" she asked with a bit of a smile in her voice.
Will glanced at her and gave her a small shrug. "Well, I thought you'd like the piano bar over the quartet or DJ," he allowed.
She smiled at him some more and gave his hand another squeeze. "You thought right," she told him.
He let himself relax a bit more at that and returned her smile. He'd done something right.
He knew Olivia liked listening to and watching him play the piano. He knew she had a rather extensive jazz collection – include just piano jazz – in their music library. And, they'd been on a couple dates to some restaurants that had had live piano music that she'd made some little comments about in the past – indicating she'd thought that had been a nice treat. He'd apparently deduced all that enough for his picked dining level not to be a bust.
But it was clear too that Liv was just letting down the sarcasm and the teasing to let them have a good night too. She knew he was trying so she was trying and that was just making him try again. They couldn't let a minor little blip of their teasing rubbing one of them the wrong way ruin their night. They got so few nights out. They had to take advantage of what they got.
That had been fairly easy after they'd gotten into the dining room, though. Liv had seemed pretty pleased with being handed her flute of Champagne immediately upon entrance – as well as the rest of the bottle of sparkling wine and strawberries waiting for them at their table when they were seated. And – he hadn't lied – they did have a private window table. She became rather set on looking out it. He knew too that she loved getting a chance to see the cityscape at night – as all the buildings lit up the sky and twinkled and danced in their reflections on the water. She often opted on them riding the ferry back from his parents' in the evening so she could gaze at it. This cruise would give them some other views than what they'd become used to seeing. He knew they'd both like that too.
They'd chatted quietly and listened to the pianist as he started to play in the dining room. She'd seemed pleased with the menu as well, though, she'd rather quickly decreed that they each had to order something different. Basically it meant she wanted to have a chance to taste everything – seeing as there were only two starter choices and he knew she wouldn't be ordering the ravioli off the list of mains – since Italian food apparently was the banned from all special occasions. Why? He didn't quite understand.
Will didn't really care about the starters – spring-mix salad or crab cakes? He'd eat either. He'd happily split both. But he didn't like her decree for the mains. With ravioli eliminated that left steak, chicken and salmon choices. She knew he wouldn't order steak – they both rarely ate red meat. But he also knew that she'd be ordering the salmon – so he was expected to order the chicken.
"I think I'm going to get the salmon," he put out there before she'd stated it was her preferred her choice.
She shook her head though. "No. I'm getting the salmon. Order the chicken."
He looked at her. "But the salmon sounds good."
She smiled in a little too much of a self-satisfied way at him. "I know it does. I'll share some of mine with you."
He snorted and shook his head at her. "Or we could both get our own – and then not have to share."
"That's no fun," she informed him. "The chicken sounds good too. Stuffed? Gruyere, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes? I want a bite of it too. Get it."
He grinned at her. "How about you get the chicken – and I'll get the salmon?"
"Mmm," she mumbled after taking another sip of her wine. "Nope. I've liked salmon longer than you. I get first dibs on the salmon."
He sighed and shook his head but reached across table and took her hand. "You're so fucking difficult," he told her softly with a gentle smile.
She grinned at him and shrugged.
"And you always have to win," he added for her.
She shrugged and smiled a bit wider. "Maybe," she allowed.
He snorted. "There's no maybe about it, Olivia."
But she just smiled even more and brought her other hand to put on top of their clasping.
They'd enjoyed their meals. Though she did end up picking off his plate more than he was allowed to pick off hers. That was pretty much on par, though. If she liked the dish, he wasn't really allowed to touch it - beyond a taste - until she was done with it. She rarely cleaned her plate, though. Especially not when she'd taken multiple forkfuls of his meal instead of her own. But it was one of her annoying little quirks he sort of loved about her. A woman picking food off his plate would've likely more than annoyed him with just about anyone else. With Olivia – it was just Olivia.
He'd had to get her to down another glass of wine – but he'd managed to cajole her into joining him on the dance floor. He thought she was playing more hesitant than she actually was. She also knew how much she liked to slow dance with him – and silly dance. Not that there were a lot of silly dance opportunity on their level. He thought if they went down to the DJ level of the boat – they might get that. But he was happy to get to hold her and just gently sway. The closeness was about the best part to him anyways. He thought it was likely why she liked dancing so much too. They were both just hesitant about any sort of physical affection in public. It'd taken them forever to even hold hands in public – or bestow hugs and kisses to each other just around their close friends and family. They'd even had a discussion and some practice sessions before having to kiss in front of prying eyes at their wedding reception.
Still, even though the dancing as nice, eventually they'd both decided to get away from the noise and the crowding of the other couples and had retrieved their coats and headed out onto the deck. It'd been a little cold in the night and winter air out on the water. But they were used to it. They almost always spent the trip back across to Manhattan from Staten Island out on the deck gazing at the city. Olivia wanted to get to do that now just as much as he did. So the walked around their deck level first – linked arm-to-arm, her cuddling into his side just a bit, her cheek occasionally finding his shoulder.
Olivia leaned into him as they passed about the fifth couple on that level who were clearly more than enjoying their time on the cruise. "There are a whole lot of middle-aged people out here necking," she whispered.
He snorted and looked at her, reaching the stairs leading up to the sky deck. "Yeah – and I'm trying to find us a personalize spot to get on some of that too."
She let out a small laugh and smacked him across the back as he clambered up the narrow staircase that seemed almost more like a ladder than stairs. He stood and looked down on her as she started up behind him.
"Careful," he warned. "They're pretty narrow."
"If I can pursue a suspect in boots with heels – I think I can manage seven steps, Will," she mumbled at him, but accepted his hand as she got neared the top.
There was only one other couple up on that deck – likely because it was a bit windier and slightly more challenging for most people to get up to in their fancy wear. Not to mention – it was definitely farther away from the music, dancing and booze. But that was pretty much what they were looking for – some quiet and privacy to just enjoy being together.
Olivia picked a spot against the railing for them and leaned against it – looking out across the water and towards the city. Will stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her and pressing his chest into her back.
"Are you warm enough?" he asked. He was a little concerned about her with her near bare legs and sleeveless dress – even though she was now covered in her warm wool winter coat.
"Mmm," she nodded wordlessly. But pressed more firmly against him, so he wrapped himself around her a bit more tightly, trying to drape and transfer some of is warmth. He bent down and pressed a kiss against her just exposed neck. Where his face was touching her cheek, he could feel her smile a bit at the kiss. So he moved his lips and put another one in on of her favorite spots just behind her ear – earning another little sound – and then a peck against her jaw, before resting his cheek against the side of her head. She rubbed her face a bit against his and then reached up and patted his other cheek gently with her gloved hand before returning it to the railing.
"Our city can be really beautiful," she said quietly after they both just stood watching the passing lights and cityscape for a while. It didn't really feel like they needed to talk much at that point. It was just nice to be filling space with each other.
He nodded, though. "It can," he agreed.
They stood just enjoying the view for sometime but then he heard her phone ding in her purse. It wasn't one of her personal buzzes – it was one of her work ones. Her partner's messaging tone. He sighed as she extracted herself from him slightly, reaching to dig the phone out from where she'd managed to keep it stashed out-of-sight for the night so far.
"You aren't really going to answer that, are you?" he asked, as he let go of her. Giving her space to do what she needed to do – and leaning against the railing next to her to just watch.
Olivia glanced at him from looking in her purse. "I have to," she said quietly.
"They are seriously going to bug you on Valentine's Day?" he pressed – a little annoyed, even though he knew it was her job and he knew it was part of the package when he got involved with her.
She gave him a small shrug and a bit of a weak smile. "Well, someone didn't tell me I'd be unavailable until last night - and at that point I was already on-call."
"They seriously thought you'd be available on our first Valentine's?"
Liv gave him another glance from where she was examining a text message on her phone now.
"It's not our first Valentine's," she said a little flatly and clearly distracted. "It's just the first one that you ever organized anything that involved leaving the house."
Will sighed. "It's our first real Valentine's since being married."
Olivia only gave him a slightly defeated shrug again – as she started typing in some sort of reply to the message. He knew there wasn't much she could say or do about it at that point.
"So do you have to go in?" he asked.
She nodded and gave him a bit of a sad smile. "Yeah. But I told him I was on a boat. I'm not going to jump in and swim to shore. But I'll have to go over to a crime scene or the hospital when we get back to the dock. Wherever they are at that point."
Will sighed. But she gave him another small smile and wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her front against his, resting her cheek against his chest.
"Well, you already said we don't ever get our bed to ourselves on date night anyways - so at least you got your date and a make-out session in here. You aren't missing out on too much," she teased.
Will rolled his eyes but wrapped his arms around her too – enjoying the time he had left with her.
"Make-out session? I think missed that."
He could feel her smile against him. "No you didn't. We walked past about five on our way up here."
He let out a little laugh and looked down at her. "Maybe I should've gawked a bit more to get some pointers on how to initiate that."
She snorted. "I don't know," she mumbled against him. "This is pretty nice too." She leaned in a bit and placed a short closed mouth kiss on his lips – following it up with two even shorter pecks.
He smiled at her some more as she broke as way and danced his eyes a bit with a shrug. "I don't know. I guess it's alright."
She let out a small laugh and returned her head to the crook of his shoulder – cuddling into their hug a bit more. "I think it's a lot more than alright."
Will held her for a moment – just enjoying the feel of having his wife with him and against him in a fairly quintessential little New York moment with their romantic dinner and view of the city.
"So did some woman go and stab her man in the heart?" he finally teased. "I know the feeling."
Liv snorted at his half-way joke that really wasn't that funny – in so many ways. But sometimes you just had to laugh.
"Hmm. I don't know. Is stabbing a man in the heart a sex crime? Debatable," she teased back. "But that's not generally where women end up wanting to stab men on Valentine's Day."
Will glanced at her. "Oww," he intoned with a rather dramatic facial expression. "OK. Maybe I actually don't want you coming home with me."
She let out a more genuine laugh at that and leaned up for another kiss – this time letting it linger for just a wee bit longer before backing down. Will knew if it wasn't just one other couple all the way over on the opposite side of the viewing deck and looking off out over the water in their own little world too – he and Liv wouldn't even be sharing that much public display of intimacy. So he was more than happy to get the few moments of affection with her.
"I love you," she told him quietly. "I had a really nice evening. You did good."
Will gave her a smile and hugged her a bit tighter. "Yeah. Just don't let little Detective Flirt ogle you too much when you get to where you're going."
She let out a real laugh again at that and shook her head at him. She knew he wasn't much of a fan of Nick Amaro yet. He wasn't sure he'd ever really like the guy that much. Something about the younger detective just rubbed him the wrong way – right from their very first meeting. Subsequent meetings hadn't done much to improve that first impression – nor had some of Liv's stories or comments about her dealings with the guy.
"He can look all he wants - but I only put this dress on for one person," Liv told him.
"Yeah. But ... fuck ... I was supposed to be the one who got to take it off too," Will teased.
"Hmm," she allowed and put her ear back against his chest – his heart. "Maybe you still will be the one who does. I can wake you up when I get home, if you're asleep. And - some times our little contraceptive seems to have a higher failure rate when we have separate arrivals and bedtimes."
Will pulled away from her slightly at that and looked down at her until she met his eyes and gave her a wide smile. "Suddenly you bailing on me to go to a crime scene is sounding a whole lot better."