Olivia's Favorite Boys
It's just a quick oneshot, not my best but I really enjoyed writing it. I hope you'll enjoy it, too.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
"What?" came Olivia's groggy voice from the speaker when she finally answered the phone and Peter couldn't help his smile widening as he took a right turn, stopping to let a couple of kids cross the road.
"Did I wake you up, Sweetheart?" he asked, though the answer was quite obvious.
"What do you think?" Now she sounded not only groggy but grumpy as well. Well, that was what you get when you dare to wake up Olivia Dunham at 6:05 on her day off.
"Sorry." He sounded anything but. "When did you get home yesterday? I hoped you'd call me." There was some shuffling on the other end of the line, presumably Olivia sitting up in bed. The image of her all wrinkled from a good night's sleep with her hair tousled only served to make Peter smile even more.
God, he missed her. They had a week off and unfortunately they had to spend it apart. If it had been up to him, they would have stayed at home not leaving the bed just to eat… or not even for that but Walter had come up with the idea of visiting an old friend who was spending his retirement on the sunny beaches of Florida. So Peter had no choice but to accompany his father on his trip and to spend his rare free time listening to two clinically insane old men while Olivia headed to Chicago to visit her sister and niece.
"Sorry, what did you say?" he asked realizing that he had missed something Olivia had said.
"I wasn't talking to you," Olivia told him absentmindedly while shuffling a little more. "Now," she said in a tone that must have been meant to be some kind of command, were her voice still not heavy with sleep.
"All right," Peter drew out, resisting the urge to ask whom she'd been talking to. Maybe she had brought Ella with her from Chicago. That should be it because it was only with her niece that Olivia giggled so freely like she was doing at the moment. He could bet she was fully awake now.
"I said get off," Peter heard her giggle and smiled with her. They must have started a tickle war. "Stop tickling and don't tear off my shirt. Hey!" The smile disappeared from Peter's face at the mention of tearing off Olivia's shirt and he realized that he didn't hear the little girl's giggle once. His thoughts were interrupted when Olivia turned her attention back to him.
"Sorry for not calling but I got in really late," her voice sounded more controlled when she spoke up. "I didn't want to wake you."
"That's all right," Peter's features softened. "What's important that you got home safe and I wouldn't have been that chatty anyway," he chuckled slightly. He and Walter had arrived home the previous day sometime in the early afternoon but Peter was so drained that he went to bed around 4 p.m.. "I swear that old man is an… energy… vampire… Olivia, everything's all right?" Peter looked at his phone as if he were able to see what was up with Olivia. When he spoke, he could hear some movement and he thought he heard Olivia padding out of the room, apparently leaving her phone behind. "Olivia?" He felt confused. Then he heard a loud bang. "Olivia?" he called louder. "Olivia, talk to me!"
"Ah, sorry, Peter." She must have run back for the phone because she was slightly out of breath. Peter let out a sigh of relief.
"What the hell was that?"
"Hmm… Nothing?"
"You're acting strange, 'Livia."
"Maybe because you woke me up?" she offered pointedly, though Peter could hear in her tone that she wasn't telling something. From the background noise, he assumed she had relocated to the kitchen and at the moment was occupied by making coffee.
"No, Sweetheart. You were grumpy because I woke you up. Now you're strange."
"Look, Peter… Stop it!" Her voice got stern and her tone was like a command, this time in earnest. Then she added a 'damn'. Peter arched an eyebrow.
"Olivia, I'm 15 minutes from your place. We'll talk when I get there. And don't tell me to stop it because I won't back off till you tell me what's up with you."
"What?" Now she sounded genuinely confused through the annoying sound of water running. "Oh," it seemed she realized what Peter had been talking about. "I wasn't talking to you. You're coming over?"
"That's what I said," he answered, getting annoyed by Olivia's obvious preoccupation. Who the hell was there with her? Was she in danger? Should he call Broyles? He unconsciously thightened his hold on the steering-wheel.
"Oh, no… Stanley, get out…" He frowned as Olivia's phone hit something once again and more shuffling came over the receiver. In the distance, he could hear Olivia talking and over some water splashing and foot tapping he could make out a faint 'That was my bath water, Stanley. Now get out.' Peter's features darkened. Who the hell was Stanley? And more importantly what was he doing in his girlfriend's apartment?
"You're still there?" Olivia sounded a little out of breath but he could practically hear her smiling. Though hearing her smiling voice had made Peter's worry dissipate some, he could feel an uneasy feeling settle down in the pit of his stomach. There was a man in Olivia's apartment... a man he hadn't known anything about and with whom Olivia seemed to be on quite a familiar term. It just didn't really bode well with him. "Peter, I've got to go. Things are getting out of hand here."
"I bet they are," he remarked ruefully. "Did you not manage to persuade Stanley not to take a bath with you?"
"Actually I did but now Winston's trying to drink my coffee."
"Jesus Christ, 'Livia! What are you doing?"
"I've really got to go, Peter. You're here soon?"
"Yeah," he answered absentmindedly as his foot pressed the accelerator.
"Good. I've got a surprise." No kidding, Peter thought as he ran a red light. "See you soon." Peter could hear a distant 'shit' before Olivia hung up.
When Peter all but burst into Olivia's apartment, he stopped short and stared in stunned disbelief. He was standing face to face with Stanley… or Winston, he wouldn't know.
He was tall and lean with the body of a professional runner and he had the most perfect golden hair Peter had ever seen. He stood at attention as Peter stormed into the apartment, though he seemed more curious then alert while they stared at each other. After a while a movement caught Peter's attention and that was when he noticed that the couch had been occupied by the other mysterious guest of Olivia.
Taking his time, he, the one lying on the couch, stretched, yawned and padded close to Peter. He was smaller than his friend with black hair. His ears stood in different angels and it gave him a somewhat funny look which wasn't helped much by his long tongue hanging out off his mouth. He regarded Peter with a mixture of curiosity and reserve.
An amused smile appeared on Peter's face as he took some more steps into the apartment. Olivia was still nowhere to be seen and it seemed that the guy with the golden hair had also lost interest in him and settled down in Olivia's bed.
"So," he looked at the other occupant of the room, "are you Stanley or Winston?" The black Greyhound padded to him and nudged Peter's hand. "Hey there, boy," Peter laughed out as he crouched to pet the dog.
"Hey, Peter," Olivia came out of the bathroom in a robe. "I see you met the boys." She had a huge smile on her face as she regarded Peter and the dog that was lying in front of him with legs in the air. "Stanley really likes when you stroke his belly."
"No kidding," Peter laughed and stood up. Stanley didn't bother to follow suit, instead stretched out on the floor.
Peter walked up to Olivia and sneaked his arms around her, planting a soft kiss on her lips. "Hey there," he whispered with a loving smile which Olivia returned, bringing her arms around his neck.
"It's good to be home," she told him.
"Tell me about it," Peter rolled his eyes.
"That bad, huh?"
"Worse," he pulled her closer and she laid her head on his chest. "I'll need another week off just to get over this one."
"What about spending the day in bed?"
"Now, that's an excellent idea. If you can kick those dogs out of bed, that is." Olivia laughed as she looked at her bed with the two Greyhounds looking all comfy in it. "Where did you get them anyway?"
"Rachel's new boyfriend works at a Greyhound Adoption Agency, and I kind of fell in love…"
"Fell in love, huh?" Peter arched an eyebrow.
"Aww, Peter, are you jealous?" She petted his chest playfully.
"At whom?" He asked nonchalantly, conveniently forgetting about his franzied drive to her place.
"My new favorite boys."
"Well," Peter gave it a second thought, "if you put it that way, yes, I am. If they are your favorite boys, what am I?"
"You'd like to know that, wouldn't you?" Olivia asked, wrinkling her nose in a way Peter found adorably cute on her then she walked away. "I'll jump into some clothes then we can take the boys for a quick walk."
"That's not fair, 'Livia," Peter called after her. "And what about spending the day in bed?" He asked looking at the bed longingly and when Winston blinked at him, he gave him an envious glare.
"Oh, I fully intend on spending the day in bed, don't worry," she informed him as she quickly threw some clothes on, "but I really don't want to clean it up if there is an accident," she indicated the dogs. "All right, boys, come on, let's move out."
Peter watched as Stanley quickly jumped up and went to the front door, looking back excitedly whether Olivia was following and when she was slow to do so, he went back to nudge her. Winston took his time to get up but finally he had his leash on as well and they were ready to go.
When they stepped into the street, Peter made a quick detour to his car and produced a paper bag from it.
"What's in that?" Olivia asked curiously, holding back the dogs from getting to it.
"I thought I'd bring some breakfast on my way… well, before you freaked me out, that is. Doughnuts with vanilla, your favorite."
"Hmm…" Olivia purred in appreciation and leant in for a kiss. "That's my man. Thank you." She could feel Peter smile into their kiss and watched bemused as he stood straighter as they separated.
"You know what?" he asked as he took the leashes from Olivia and handed her the bag. "I think I don't mind these boys," he shrugged and put his free arm around Olivia's waist while she was busy getting into the bag. "They're kind of cute."
Olivia laughed out heartily as they slowly started to walk.
THE END
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