Chapter Fifty Two – Teasing is the Best Medicine
"Hey, love. How's your head?" Ben asked as he stepped into her apartment.
He'd had an apartment showing in the morning the day after Olivia's hospital visit. While he'd been planning on rescheduling so he wouldn't have to leave her, Olivia had insisted he go. Not wanting to argue with her when she still had a lingering headache he'd agreed. It wasn't like he would be gone all day after all.
"Love?" Olivia asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"Would you prefer sweetums?"
Ben's teasing smile danced across his face, making Olivia smile too. He just had this way of using his teasing to get out of any sticky situation with her. It didn't mean he was going to win, but at least he wasn't going to get his head bit off.
"Would you prefer idiot?" she threw back.
He laughed and came over to join her on the couch, stopping to rub Suvi's head along the way.
"Sounds like someone is feeling better."
"A lot better."
"Headache's gone?"
Olivia made an indistinct noise that wasn't quite agreement but wasn't fully denial either. She was obviously trying to use an unidentified sound as a method of avoiding the question. It wasn't like she was even looking at him either.
"Not completely then."
Her eyes snapped up to his in surprise that he'd read through her attempted smokescreen so easily. He was apparently better at reading her than she had initially thought, but she really shouldn't have been all that surprised. They'd been together for a little while now, and he's long since been showing signs that he could pick out some of her habits and the hidden meaning behind her actions.
"How bad is it, Olivia?" he pressed gently.
"Not that bad. It's still there but more in the background. A kind of generalized dull ache I guess."
That didn't sound good to Ben, but he supposed compared to where she was at yesterday maybe it was better. If she wasn't understating her pain of course. Understatement was definitely a possibility, though there was no way she was in as much pain as she had been. Her color was back, and her eyes were no longer clouded with physical agony.
"You haven't been up and around, have you?"
Olivia rolled her eyes at him. As much as she appreciated him being there for her and helping her though the struggles of her injuries, he could be somewhat overprotective sometimes.
"No. I've been waiting for you to get here so you could make me a cup of tea. Now go."
"Yes, love."
He shot her another cocky, teasing smile that mirrored the bright dancing in his eyes. If Olivia had been feeling better she would have tried to kick him. Even though she wasn't feeling her best she was willing to risk triggering a larger headache if it meant she could throw a pillow at Ben's face instead. He totally deserved it. The jerk. Ben only laughed at her attempt at punishment and danced away. Olivia huffed and leaned back against the couch. That sharp movement had raised the level of pain in her head by a notch or two. Suvi pushed himself to his feet and wandered over to pick up the pillow Olivia had thrown. He brought it over to her, and she took it appreciatively. Now that she had the pillow back it would be a good idea to lie down for a moment or two. If Ben saw her lying down it would likely worry him, but she was just going to have to do that. At least if she was lying down the headache wasn't likely to get worse.
When Ben came back over with her tea and found her sprawled out with her eyes closed and her arm resting across her forehead he was worried. All of the teasing he'd been planning on doing went right out the window.
"Liv? Do I need to get your pills?"
"No. I'm fine." Relatively at least.
She scooted up into a sitting position and reached for her tea. Ben handed it to her happily and sat down beside her with her toes tucked under his leg. As she sipped at her tea he watched her closely. Olivia felt his eyes on her and tolerated them for a short time. He continued watching her however, and eventually she got fed up with his evaluating stare.
"You don't need to decide if I'm fine, Ben. I already told you that I was," she stated without bothering to look up at him.
"It's kind of hard to take your words at face value sometimes when you're so good at hiding things."
That time she did look up at him with a gentle smile.
"I really am okay."
"Okay," he returned as he ran his thumb along the side of her face. Before pulling away he twirled her hair around a finger. "Your hair is getting long."
Olivia smiled and gently ran a hand through her hair as well. When she'd met Ben it had barely touched her shoulders. Now it gently brushed past them, though only by a touch. She would be able to pull it up in a full ponytail now if she wanted.
"It's getting there."
"It's nice."
"Mm."
Olivia wasn't sure she liked it all that much, but it was better than it had been. At least now it was long enough that it didn't constantly remind her of what had happened. She would probably never be comfortable wearing her hair short again.
"You don't have to stay, you know. I'd be fine on my own now."
"I don't mind, Liv, and besides, it's not like I can go back in to work now."
"Sure you could. You've been off for two days. There's no way you aren't behind."
Ben merely shrugged. Sure he was a little bit behind, but he could catch back up. There wasn't anything time sensitive going on at the moment which was really a good thing. If there had been he definitely would have failed at either his job or taking care of Olivia. It really wasn't a pleasant thought, but since that hadn't happened there was no reason to worry about it.
"I'll catch up," he assured.
"You should catch up now before you wind up even farther behind. I'm not going to over-do it if you aren't here monitoring me."
"Are you sure?"
As much as he didn't want to leave her, she did have a point. The longer he put off getting back to the long list of assignments he should have been completing in the last day and a half the more work he would need to do and the less time he'd have later. It would be a lot more stressful to check in with her if he had too much to get completed. He wouldn't have as much opportunity to spend with her for reasons besides checking in either.
"Ben, I have no intention of moving off the couch if I can help it."
"Yeah, but…"
"But, nothing. I managed just fine without you. Suvi's here. Go home. Get your work done."
"Alright." Ben leaned over and kissed her lightly. "But I'll be checking in."
"I would expect nothing less," she replied after she returned the kiss.
"Good."
Ben gathered everything he'd brought with him since he'd spent the night with Olivia and moved back into her living room. He ruffled Suvi's ears on the way through.
"Look after her, buddy."
Suvi's head came up and his tail swished across the floor. Ben didn't need to worry. Suvi would take good care of Olivia. Sure, Ben could take care of Olivia easily, but Suvi was so much better at it. Or so he thought at least. Everything would be just fine.
