Chapter 9
Not much action in this one, but I think it's cute. Planning to post chapter 10 very soon.
"Got enough syrup?" Olivia asked, watching Tori pour enough maple syrup on his crepe for about 4 thick pancakes.
He laughed, "Yes, actually. This'll probably get me through 5 more crepes. What can I say; I'm addicted to the stuff. Want some?"
Olivia accepted and poured a little on her crepe, the looked down at the incredibly flat pancake. She'd never eaten a crepe before and she wasn't really sure what to do. Her fork would be useless on something that flat. She looked up at Tori, a little helplessly. He laughed and then started folding the flat circle into a triangle. Then he skewered the whole thing on his fork and picked it up, letting some of the syrup drip off before he started eating. Olivia followed his lead. "Wow, this is delicious." She said, feeling a little childish but enjoying it nonetheless.
"Want a drink?" Tori asked after grabbing a second crepe from the stack infront of him. Olivia nodded "That'd be great."
Tori came back with two glasses of milk and a bottle of Bailey's. He poured some in his own glass of milk, then set the bottle on the floor and started folding his second crepe, which was already soaked in syrup.
"Wait, don't I get any?" Olivia asked, laughing when he put the bottle on the floor.
"Nope. As of right now you are in Alcoholic Not-So-Anonymous. Drink up, milk's good for ya," He said, taking a bite of his dripping crepe.
Olivia laughed again, "Wow, you couldn't make that any cheesier if you tried, could you?" He smiled. She looked down at her glass, a little disappointed. She really was thirsty and she knew she needed to stop drinking so much. She sighed and took a sip of milk before going back to her food.
"You know, I notice I'm at a disadvantage here. You're in my room, eating my food, a gun strapped to your belt and I don't even know your name," Tori said, grabbing another crepe.
"Olivia Benson" She hadn't meant to let her last name slip, but decided it didn't matter. If he were really someone to worry about, he would already know her name. "What about your name. Is it short for something?"
"Nope, it's just Tori, Tori Swanson. My mom had a thing for weird names. My brother's name was Raiden and my sister's Mercedes," He said, smiling affectionately as he thought about them.
"What are you doing at this hotel?" She asked.
"I'm in this specific location because of my friend Greg. He's visiting from Scotland, but we do our own thing mostly. As for why I left home, I needed to get away. Every few years I like to take a long break from work."
"What do you do for a living?"
"I'm a pediatric oncologist. I get to see kids go through the most horrible experiences of their lives, deal with parents who feel like they can't handle it all. Seeing people at their worst day after day, you have to get away or else you're just gonna burn out."
Olivia's mouth was dry. She understood what he meant completely. "What about you, what do you do?"
"I'm a cop," she answered quickly.
He laughed. "I can't imagine you in a uniform."
"Yeah. They were specifically invented to make women look as masculine as possible," she joked. She didn't know why she was lying to him; she just didn't want to talk about what was really going on in her life. "What happened to your brother?" She hoped to divert his attention.
"What do you mean?"
"You said his name was Raiden. I assume there's a reason for the past tense."
"Wow, you are a cop. I gave him my kidney but he rejected it, died a couple months later," He said, his voice casual. He didn't even avoid Olivia's gaze like most people did when talking about something painfully.
"I'm really sorry," She said.
"No, you're not, you just think that's what you should say. But I appreciate the sentiment. It was a really long time ago, I've had a long time to get over it." He smiled reassuringly and she couldn't help but smile back.
"So tell me: Olivia has a lot of syllables in it. Can I call you something shorter?" He asked.
"What did you have in mind?"
"What do your friends call you?"
Olivia was tempted to say, 'I don't have any friends, but my co-workers call me Liv.' But instead she just said, "Liv"
He chuckled. "What's so funny?" she asked, a little insulted.
"I just think it's sort of ironic, considering what you came here for," he said.
"What? What do you…you think I came here to…I did not!" She said, truly insulted this time.
"You're right, that was out of line, I'm sorry. You just came here to cry and put some holes in your liver. Right," his tone was perfectly serious, but his words were dripping with sarcasm nonetheless. She knew she should be angry with him, but she couldn't help laughing. He had a point, after all, and he had a knack for making her smile.
"Alright, what would you rather call me?" She challenged.
"I like Ben. I'm very into the cross-gender names, especially on women. Very sexy," he said.
"Let's stick with Liv," she said.
"Well you know, I could handle two syllables."
"What do you mean?"
"I could call you Olive."
"So Ben, huh? Short and sweet, I like it."
"Olive."
"I swear I will shoot you," she said, clenching her jaw and putting a hand on her gun. Tori laughed, then smiled at her, "Ben it is, then."
