For a long time now I've been working on this story off and on when the mood struck. More than a year has passed since I started this project, and only now is it ready to see the light of day. I've wanted to try my hand at a shorter chaptered story for some time now, and so I have four chapters planned for this one. Olivia and Gaius are two of my favorite characters from Awakening and I'm excited to be able to write both of them together in one story.

Hey Baby

The Name Game

The day ended without incident as the sun slowly approached the horizon. Faint shadows cast by the trees flickered softly in the fading light. Many of the Shepherds were retiring to their tents or getting ready to go out to the nearest town for the evening. Olivia was doing neither, instead settling in for a quiet night alone. Ever since the war started, it was even harder for the pink haired dancer to find a moment to herself when she could practice without an audience. She was about to go scout out a secret spot when someone approached her.

"Hey, baby!"

She turned in the direction of the voice and saw a man with orange hair and a black bandana tied around his forehead. Olivia checked to see if there was anyone behind her that he might have been calling out to, but it was only the two of them in the area. Turning back to the stranger, she said, "Gaius, isn't it?"

He nodded. "That's right. I was wondering if you'd do me a favor."

It hadn't been long since she'd joined the Shepherds, and Olivia didn't know all of her comrades very well yet. But she had heard of Gaius' former occupation as a thief (or current one, as Olivia was pretty sure that he'd gotten some of his sweets by more nefarious means). So it was with slight hesitancy that she asked, "What kind of favor?"

"Give this a taste test for me."

He held out his arms, and Olivia noticed the pie he was holding for the first time. It wasn't the nicest pie she'd seen, not by a long shot. The tinfoil pan it had been baked in was slightly dented on one side and the crust was a pale color that betrayed its soggy nature. There was also what looked like a thin layer of raw sugar coating the top of the pie, as if it had just been sprinkled on at the end.

And yet it had been so long since she'd last had a frosted fruit pie. Giving the pastry another look, she resigned herself. After all, how bad could it be?

"Sure, I'll try it," she said.

Gaius passed her the pie along with a fork, and Olivia took a bite out of it. She chewed it quickly at first, then slowed down after the taste started to kick in.

He frowned a little. "Well? How is it?"

She coughed. "Ah, it's… well, to be frank, it's so sweet that it's overwhelming. And the crust doesn't have a good crunch to it either." She cleared her throat again, wishing the pie had come with a glass of water.

"Oh… that bad, huh?" He said. "Because to tell you the truth, I made this myself."

"What?!" She said, eyes wide. "Oh no, I'm sorry! If I had known it was your pie I wouldn't have –"

"Easy there," he said, effectively stopping her multiple apologies. "No big deal, just means I gotta make it better next time. I didn't expect the first one to turn out so great anyway, but I wanted to get a second opinion. So really, don't feel so bad."

"Ah, um, if you say so," she said, a slight blush still tinging her cheeks pink. "I'm glad I could help, then."

"Trust me, you did." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "And, well, I was hoping you'd be willing to try more of my pies in the future. I promise they'll be tastier than this one, too. What do ya say?"

"Sure," she said. "I'd be honored."

Assuming that the conversation was over, Olivia turned to leave. A moment later, she heard Gaius say, "By the way, I recommend the area behind Frederick's tent. It's pretty secluded and I doubt anyone's gonna be passing by there."

"Oh, thank you," she replied. Then she stopped after realizing what he'd said. "Wait, Gaius!" She called, but he was already gone.

In spite of herself, Olivia ended up dancing in the place he had mentioned. The whole time she was blushing fiercely, because his comment could mean only one thing – Gaius knew about her secret dancing. And more importantly, he had seen her dancing, which was far more embarrassing than him just knowing about it.

"How do I get myself into these kind of situations…" she mumbled.

About a week passed before Gaius followed through on his promise. Olivia had managed to forget her embarrassment in the interim, but the memory came rushing back along with her blush as soon as she saw him walking towards her with another pie.

She watched him approach like a deer in the headlights, frantically trying to come up with an escape plan. This gave him more than enough time to make his way over to her, but before Gaius could say anything, Olivia suddenly found her voice. "Um, ah, I, uh," she said. "I'vegottago."

She tried to make a break for it and nearly did a Sumia when she tripped over a pebble. She would have landed face-first in the dirt if not for Gaius reaching out to catch her. He extended his arm and wrapped it around her waist, effectively stopping her fall.

Olivia would have thanked him if she hadn't noticed the pie he'd been holding seconds earlier slip from his grip. She watched it fall as if in slow motion, hoping against hope that it would land upright.

Of course it didn't, and she couldn't suppress a gasp as the edges of the pie pan clattered against the ground. "Gaius, I am SO sorry, I didn't –"

She stopped short as she realized how very close he was, his face only inches from hers. His arm was still around her, and she was suddenly grateful that he was helping support her weight since she felt a little less steady after noticing the situation.

He looked at her with concern. "You alright there, baby? Scared me there when you nearly took a nosedive. Reminded me a little too much of Stumbles to be honest."

"Ah, um, yes, I'm fine," she said, trying to look anywhere but at him. Thankfully, Gaius let her go and she took a few steps back, trying to calm her heart. "Thank you for helping me, um…"

Her gaze drifted back to the ruined pie on the ground and she involuntarily gasped again. Gaius looked down too and saw what she was so freaked out about. "Ah, shoot," he said, stooping down to pick up the remains.

Olivia bent down to help, her words blending together as she tried to apologize. "I'm so sorry, it's all my fault your pie got ruined! I'm sure it was better this time and I tried to run away because I was embarrassed that you knew about my dancing and it was really silly now that I think about it and –"

"Whoa, slow down there," Gaius said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. Really. I just gotta make another one, right? Er, as long as you promise not to run away next time?"

"Okay," she said, standing up as they gathered the last of the pie. "And um, about my dancing…"

"I figured you were keeping it on the down low, seeing how shy you are," Gaius said. "Don't know why though, since you're so good, but I've kept it secret for you. Haven't told a soul. Feel better?"

She sighed in relief. "That's good. And also, about the pie. I'll make it up to you next time, okay?"

He grinned. "Deal. Take care of yourself, baby."

Olivia watched him go, feeling a lot better about the whole thing. Gaius really was rather nice when she thought about it, and it wasn't so bad getting a chance at free pies. She walked away humming to herself and went about the rest of her day in a better mood than usual.

Over the next several weeks, Gaius brought pies for her to sample every so often. His visits were unpredictable since it was never certain when he'd be able to get ingredients, but Olivia always brightened whenever he did show up. His pies got progressively better every time, and she really did delight in seeing him improve.

But outside of their little pie exchange, Olivia didn't interact with Gaius much. The thought crossed her mind one day that it was strange he chose her to be his pie critic, and she couldn't help but wonder why. There were plenty of other people who'd know more when it came to pies, she reasoned. Cordelia excelled at everything, and could no doubt be a baking genius if she put her mind to it. Sumia was always making pies for Chrom, so she would know a thing or two about them. And Miriel would definitely be able to figure out how to engineer the perfect pie considering how devoted she was to her experiments.

So why her? Gaius said it was because she was a dancer with supposedly more refined tastes, but Olivia wasn't sure that made her more valuable than all those other qualified people.

While she mulled over those thoughts, she started to notice Gaius around camp a lot more. He seemed to get along with just about everyone, she realized. He was easy to talk to, witty and clever, and good-looking on top of that. Olivia wasn't surprised he managed to attract attention, and even more so she wondered why he designated her as his pie expert.

It was in the process of observing him that she picked up on his nicknaming habit. She chuckled at some of them, admiring the way he put an original twist on his relationships with the others. Then she started to wonder what her nickname was.

Nothing came to mind immediately when she replayed their past conversations, and for a while she thought that maybe he didn't have one for her. She was a little disappointed, but felt comforted by the fact that Gaius didn't nickname everyone. Cherche was still Cherche and Sully was still Sully, so maybe Olivia would stay just Olivia too.

But… wait a minute, that wasn't quite right either. Had he ever called her Olivia? Had he ever said her name? There was something she was forgetting here, some puzzle piece she hadn't placed yet.

Not a day later the answer hit her. It was true that he never called her Olivia, because he did in fact have a nickname for her. And once she realized what it was, Olivia's cheeks turned a record shade of red.

He gave everyone a nickname. She'd noticed that much. Lissa's and Miriel's were straightforward enough. Sumia's was an obvious reference to her clumsiness. Chrom still raised an eyebrow every time he was addressed as "Blue," but even he had to admit it made sense (seriously, did he wear any other color?).

Olivia wasn't surprised that he had a nickname for her as well. But no one else's had been so… suggestive. As if she wasn't shy enough already, now she had another reason to blush down to her toes every time Gaius spoke to her. She hadn't even recognized it as his nickname for her until a few days ago, which was even more embarrassing considering he'd been calling her that for months.

Now it was all she could think about, and Olivia wasn't sure what to do. After all, wasn't that the kind of nickname reserved for, dare she say it, lovers? Why did he choose to call her that?

"Oh, there you go again, Olivia. Reading too much into everything," she mumbled to herself as she absentmindedly stirred the stew she was cooking.

Olivia was on kitchen duty that night, and with only her own embarrassing thoughts for company, she sometimes talked out loud to try and calm herself down. Although… that probably made it worse, because what if someone walked in and saw her talking to herself? What if they thought she was some kind of crazy person? Oh, that would be even more embarrassing, and then what would she do?

She turned her attention back to her previous train of thought, but found that it wasn't much better when that topic was even more blush-inducing. She stirred the stew a little more vigorously than necessary as a distraction. "He probably doesn't mean anything by it," she said to reassure herself. "Maybe he's just being friendly?"

"A little too friendly if you ask me," she said in response. "Anyone would think he was overstepping the line, right?"

"Maybe you're just being paranoid, Olivia," she tried to rationalize. "Gaius is on good terms with a lot of people in this army. I don't think he'd try to make you feel uncomfortable by… by…"

Ding! Olivia jumped a little at the sound of the timer, signaling that the stew was done. She gave it a quick taste-test, nodding with satisfaction. She sighed as she got out the soup bowls and spoons.

"Well, I suppose there's no point worrying about it right now," she said. "And if Gaius starts to hint at anything more, I'll just have to tell him he's got the wrong idea!"

Olivia hid her face behind one of the bowls. "That is, if I've got the nerve to say that to him…"

She retrieved a ladle and evenly distributed the stew (except for Stahl's portion, which she put into a noticeably larger bowl than everyone else's). "But it's true that he doesn't call anyone else that," she reasoned. Then she paused. "Or does he?"

She bit her lip as she thought about it. "Does he call everyone that? Maybe he does, and I just haven't noticed?" Olivia nodded once, a determined (if slightly timid) look on her face. "Time to find out."

Next chapter: The return of the Olivia barrel!