A/N: Hey everyone! Keep those reviews rolling in! I LOVE THEM. I'm so glad you're diggin' The Pond. I promise there will be lots of EO and lots of smut for my girls. I have a ton of ideas, I just have to figure out how to string them together. Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing! XO, Kinsey
PS Did y'all see Chris on Regis & Kelly today? HOLY HOTTIE. I heart the shaved head. If it wasn't an "escape" from Elliot for Chris, I would totally vote for El to have a shaved head. SEX-AY!
Disclaimer: Only my overactive imagination belongs to me. By the way, anyone know Melinda's husband's name? I made it Henry. Henry Warner sounds nice.
Pulling off her rubber gloves and flipping a dark brown curl out of her face, Melinda Warner sighed. Elliot and Olivia drama was the bane of her existence some days. She swore it was like living through 8th grade again, an experience she'd gladly never repeat. She knew she was lucky to have her Henry. She'd loved that man like a house-a-fire since she was seventeen years old. They'd been married for twenty-two years and each year it just kept getting better. Sure they'd had fights and nights on the couch, but she wouldn't trade a day of it for the un-requited bullshit Elliot and Olivia put each other through. She played her conversation with Olivia earlier that day back in her head.
"Melinda, what if Elliot doesn't want me?"
"Honey, if he doesn't want you, I'm going to start buying into John's 'big brother' theories. Olivia, are you blind?"
"Mel, all I'm saying is what if he moved on? I did!"
"Oh shuuuuuuuuut uuuuuuuup! You did not! What you did was marry Trevor Langan to try to force yourself to move on."
"I married Trevor--"
"To try to force yourself to move on." Melinda interrupted.
"But I love Trevor," Olivia protested.
"Liv, I've never questioned that. I know you love Trevor. But you also love Elliot. And trust me. It's very different love."
"How do you know so much about this, doc?" Olivia asked.
"Your love for Elliot is not rocket science. It's the same love I feel for Henry. When you two are together, I almost choke on the sexual tension. But believe it or not, even us old married ladies remember what that's like. My heart still stops for a second every time I see my husband, Olivia. And I know when you and Elliot have been married as long as Henry and I? You'll feel the same way I do."
Olivia started to say something, but Elliot had walked in.
"We can continue this conversation later if you need to," Melinda had managed to say before Elliot had made his way to their table.
Olivia nodded quickly and looked up to the man standing there. The looks on their faces when their eyes met had made Melinda want to vomit worse than anything she'd seen in her career as the medical examiner. But it was cute.
"I'll let you two get to it," Melinda said. "I'm sure I'll see you later." She stood, picked up her coffee cup and smiled at the two detectives as she left the diner.
Melinda sighed again. Damn kids. She and Olivia had been friends for awhile now, and it broke her heart to see her friend hurting like this. She couldn't imagine being in a marriage where the time dragged like Olivia felt her marriage was. Melinda was always amazed at how quickly the 22 years she'd spent as Mrs. Henry Warner had gone by. She knew if Olivia was with someone who was as crazy as he was about her, it would be completely different. Melinda knew that person for Olivia was Elliot. Now if they could only swallow their damn stubborn pride. She pulled the sheet back over the body she'd been working on and jotted some notes on a tablet. The phone on the wall rang, jarring her out of her non-work-related thoughts.
"Warner. M.E.'s office," she answered.
"Hey, baby," the smooth voice of her husband spoke.
"Henry. Hi, sweetheart!"
"I just wanted to see if my favorite girl would be interested in a dinner date tonight."
"I think I can work that out. What's going on?" Melinda asked.
"Nothing, honey. Nothing at all. Just wanted to take my beautiful wife to dinner."
"Well yeah. I'll meet you at home after work."
"Sounds great. How's your day going?"
"Oh you know. Just another day. Had coffee with Liv this afternoon."
"How was it?" Henry asked. He thought quite a bit of Olivia, and worried about her like a big brother.
"Good, good. She uh, she found a ring that I'm pretty sure Elliot was planning to ask her to marry him with."
"Oh yeah? So what's she going to do?"
"She doesn't really seem to know. We got interrupted, they had a case."
"Huh. Well… poor kid," Henry said.
"I know… no matter what I tell her…" Melinda sighed again. "She's so damn stubborn."
"Well, go to dinner with your charming husband. I'm sure he'll think of a way to make you forget all about it," Henry suggested.
"You're on honey. I'll see you later."
"Bye Mel. I love you."
"I love you too, Henry." Melinda said, hanging up the phone.
Yes indeed. If Olivia could just find a guy like Henry Warner, her love life would be looking up.
A/N: So what did you guys think of Henry? I kinda had the mental picture of this Barry White/Taye Diggs/Omar Epps/Orlando Jones kinda guy. :-) R&R! XO, Kinsey