Happy Monday! Thank you so much for the great activity on Come Through over the last few weeks- thank you especially to new fan favourites from NotRob, mcv1995, RAD092515, and jongoodwife2014, and thanks for the great reviews from Levesque-Rollins823 and bamakakechick - love seeing reactions in new chapters - keep 'em coming!
Olivia stretched and immediately regretted it. Everything hurt. What did I do last night?
Her head was throbbing. Her legs ached. Her arms felt leaden. Was the room still spinning? Where the hell was she? She opened her eyes and saw the familiar dark brown walls of their room...oh right...
She heard a rustle in the bed behind her and smiled, the events of last night quickly coming back to her. She rolled over slowly and grinned at the sight of Seth, sleeping soundly, one arm stretched toward her, the other resting at his side. The bedsheets were wrapped around his waist, leaving Olivia to admire his sleeping form. He is a beautiful, beautiful man… She reached out a tentative hand and pushed his hair back from his face.
Seth raised an arm and caught her wrist, "And what do you think you're doing?" he purred in a low-pitched morning voice. He tried to keep as still as possible, although he had had a cold shower before coming to bed last night, he had forgotten to take anything to help mitigate the effects of last night's drinking.
His voice sent a shiver down his spine, it was definitely a weakness of hers. "I am looking at the lovely man that swept me off of my feet last night," Olivia murmured back, trying not to move too much, but letting Seth keep hold of her wrist.
Seth smirked, "Do you remember how last night ended up, Livs?" The hand holding her wrist began to trail gently down her arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake.
Olivia furrowed her brow, trying to remember how last night had actually gone - she definitely remembered shirts coming off, but after that, it was blank...oh no… "Did...I didn't...did I?" She felt an embarrassed flush creep up her cheeks and Seth couldn't help but laugh.
"Well we had a great start, anyways...I just took too damn long getting my pants off - i thought i'd dislocated my elbow for a minute there...no harm done, and nothing a cold shower couldn't fix," he reached out to caress her cheek. Olivia let herself sink into his touch, and the embarrassed flush was soon replaced with something more needful.
"Are your pants off now?" Olivia invited.
Seth pushed himself up on one elbow, definitely keen to take Olivia up on the offer. Halfway to her, his elbow buckled and Seth groaned in pain. Olivia, despite the sharp stabbing sensation in her head at the motion, was sitting up, trying to figure out what the source of his agony was. "Seth...Seth? Is it your elbow? Your head? Jesus it's not your balls is it?"
The last question made Seth forget about his elbow for a moment, and he laughed out loud, allowing Olivia to check his arm for damage. "Nothing so simple as my balls, lov-Livs...I don't think I dislocated my elbow, but I might have hit it a little harder than I thought I had. It could be a sprain. I think a couple of ibuprofen will probably do my entire body a world of good..and you will definitely want to have a couple yourself - If you wouldn't mind getting the bottle? They're in my suitcase, inside pocket."
Olivia kissed Seth delicately on the lips, then carefully removed herself from the bed, pulled her t-shirt from the floor, and put it on . Although a little wobbly, and her head still felt tender, Olivia thought she had come away from last night relatively unscathed. She found the bottle of ibuprofen, and without thinking, tossed it to Seth. Seth didn't see the throw until the last minute and the bottle bounced off his forehead and onto the bed. "Ow...you know your bedside manner could use a little work," he muttered, reaching for the bottle and fumbling with the lid.
Olivia came back to him with two glasses of water from the bathroom, "Just keeping you on your toes, Rollins…" She sat beside him on his side of the bed, passing him his water and helping him open the bottle. She shook a couple of caplets into his palm, and then her own, lifting her glass in a quiet toast. "I'm sorry about last night...a cold shower was not how I had envisioned our evening winding up." She laid a hand on his chest and rested it there, "And I think we may be taking it easy today." She looked at the bedside clock, "And I think that if we don't get a move on, you're going to be late for your staff evaluations." She leaned forward and kissed him lingeringly, regretting not having more time or energy for them this morning. Seth apparently had the same thought, holding her hand as she rose, until he had to let go of her fingertips. "I'll jump in the shower and try to wake up a bit..i'll be quick."
Seth watched her go, still treading carefully - not only was she hungover, but she was also recovering from the most brutal physical workout she'd ever experienced. He felt a small glow of pride remembering the fight she'd put up against Theresa once in the gym, and then once more later that night at dinner. She's already fought so hard just to get to this place, here with him. He was so proud of how far she'd come in such a short time. As if on cue, he could hear her start to sing in the shower - Elton John again. He wondered if she'd done that when she was married to Mark, and suddenly he felt a surge of jealousy for the happiness of a dead man.
They decided to take a Lyft to the gym - Seth's elbow was still hurting, and Olivia was not comfortable driving in a strange city. Seth's elbow also allowed him to beg off coaching the morning class, as would have been his usual tradition before staff evals.
"I am not even going to ask how that happened - I delivered you two home as safe and sound as I could...I asked Tamir to take the class instead, but I told him exactly why you couldn't." He clucked disapprovingly, "Wild sexual acrobatics is what I told him…"
Eric watched Olivia's jaw drop, and her eyebrows come up over the tops of her sunglasses. Ooh...interesting!...He waved Seth and Olivia over to the smoothie bar, "Breanne, can you whip up two of the Morning After smoothies, please - for our boss and this lovely woman?" He smiled at Olivia, "I have some questions for you, and a very interesting proposal - after I get this guy set up in the meeting room, i'll come find you." He winked at Olivia, and clapped Seth on his good arm, "Come on, cowboy - let's get you settled. I'll get Breanne to bring your smoothie when she's got it ready."
Seth kissed Olivia, "I will be taking a lunch - we can go and do some shopping this afternoon, if I can get Eric to drop us off?" His elbow was feeling better from the ibuprofen, and he gingerly reached around her waist to pull Olivia closer, "Maybe we can see where the afternoon takes us?"
Olivia ran her hand up Seth's chest, locking behind his neck, "I think I need to wait for the sun to stop shining quite so brightly - I'm banking a lot on this magic potion of Eric's. If it works, I can definitely say yes to shopping, but we'll have to see about the rest of the day. Your staff evaluations may give you better company."
Seth kissed her on the forehead, "Unlikely. It's great to touch base with the coaches, and have fun...but i'd rather be with you." He pulled away from Olivia, and followed Eric to the meeting room.
She watched him go and despite everything at that moment, she wanted nothing more than to call Renee and excitedly give her the dirt on last night. Renee had been her closest confidante for years and it felt empty to have begun this new stage in her life and not be able to tell her. She was family. Well, there really isn't any reason you can't pick up the phone and tell her. Or text her. Or email her. That's on you.
Olivia found herself pitting her need for a friend against the knowledge that it would be emotionally difficult to even see Renee right now. Even if Olivia could forgive her for lying to her about the pregnancy, even if she could get past the fact that Renee was actually pregnant, seeing Renee would only bring home the fact that Olivia was unlikely to have another child of her own. The initial medical report said that there was trauma to the 'reproductive mechanism' which would make future pregnancies, if not impossible, then extremely unlikely. The doctor who gave this report to her had given her a number of pamphlets regarding infertility and counselling - all of which Olivia threw into the garbage by the front doors of the clinic. After that, her periods were all over the place, and still weren't regular by any means. So there was one more way she was never going to get back to normal...one more thing that, no matter how many steps she took forward, it would never make a difference.
She sat down at the bar and took a sip of her smoothie, grateful for the sunglasses she wore. She didn't feel much like making friends right now. She wanted to go home.
I miss Renee...Olivia took her phone out and looked at her favourite contacts - Renee was still there, so was Dean. She knew that if she called them now and asked to come home they would be out in a heartbeat and she could be home in her own bed that night.
Was that really what she wanted? Olivia sat and sipped more of her drink - she actually thought it was helping her feel a bit less like a bag of crap and made a mental note to get the recipe from Eric before they left. She thought a bit more about calling Renee and Dean and decided in the end that she needed more time - time to process, well -everything. The baby. The betrayal. The lies.
And then there was Seth - while she thought that Seth would understand if she decided to go home, and would even support her decision, but Olivia reckoned she owed it to herself to see where this new relationship could go. She was enjoying her time with him - she was enjoying her time back in the real world, and kind of kicking herself for not stepping a toe into the water a bit sooner. She thought she could be very happy with Seth. She would stay.
"How are we doing over here?" Eric's voice brought Olivia out of her life analysis and she removed her sunglasses when he came to sit at the bar beside her.
"Better now," she admitted and nodded to her glass, "this thing is life changing - I think I need to get the recipe...although I can't imagine drinking like that again for a while…" She took a deep breath, "What proposal did you have in mind?"
Eric held up a finger, and ran to grab his laptop from the front desk, "We need to talk about an action plan for getting a program for seniors going…" He started typing, "We need to make it appealing to the companies that run these facilities - which means we have to make it add either money to their wallets or value to their services. So we are going to need funding…"
During the course of Seth's staff evaluations, Eric and Olivia had put together a large list of pros and cons for both Cross The Line CrossFit, the clients in the care homes, and the owners of the care homes. Olivia also told Eric that she would start looking into possible donors, community groups, and local government programs that might be interested in making themselves look good or feel good by donating money to get the program up and running.
"That looks very impressive," Seth commented, looking over Eric's shoulder. He came around the bar to sit on Olivia's side and motioned for Eric to slide the laptop over to him. He looked, he scrolled, and then he allowed himself a small smile. He knew that for the most part, projects like these almost never got off the ground for one reason or another - and they weren't a charity, he was a businessman. But this could possibly work…
"What sort of time frame are we looking at?" he asked.
Eric and Olivia looked at each other, "Well, we hadn't really gotten that far - we don't even have a budget yet. And I think we shouldn't go asking for money until we know what we're asking for. And - we definitely don't want to ask people to take a chance on something without knowing what exactly it is." Olivia explained.
Seth nodded, "Well I definitely look forward to seeing the finished proposal - the population is aging...this could be huge for us." He smiled at the pair looking expectantly at him, "Good job, team."
Olivia beamed and high-fived Eric, "Well it's mostly Eric - but I am happy to do what I can."
Eric shook his head, "You hang on to this one , Seth - not only is she smart as hell, funny, and gorgeous - she has a real head for organizing stuff like this." He took the laptop back from Seth and got off of his stool, "If you don't try to put this program into the other gyms, you're a damn fool." He kissed Olivia on the cheek and clapped Seth on the shoulder, "Let me put this away and we can go for lunch."
Seth had a plan for after lunch. He wanted Olivia to have something nice for their secret side trip to Chicago - dinner at one of the upscale restaurants James' brother had access to would require something more dressy than the leggings Olivia had brought with her, and if there was a pool, he planned for them to be able to use it together.
He stood up and helped Olivia off of her stool, "Still on for shopping after lunch? I will definitely need to pick up a pair of swimming trunks - I totally forgot to bring them this trip." He pulled Olivia into his arms, and kissed the tip of her nose.
Olivia wrinkled her nose at him, grinning, "You've literally seen everything I own - workout gear, leggings, and tshirts. We may be a couple of hours...and I haven't been shopping in at least a year - this is either going to be a long afternoon, or a very short one...are you ready for this?
Seth nodded, "I told you at the start, Olivia, I am in this for the long haul. You and me. Long or short, there's a mall in literally every town in America - if we don't get it all done today, we'll get it done tomorrow...or the next day...or the one after that." He felt Olivia's arms go around his waist and tug him close to her, and tightened his arms in response, resting his head on hers.
Eric came back to them, keys in hand, "Alright lovely people, let's get this show on the road...break it up, lovebirds."
Lunch was pleasantly spent, the hungover feeling that had dogged Olivia and Seth all morning had started to dissipate and lunch and helped chase it further away. Olivia felt lighter being away from Cincinatti than she had in the year previous - the company helped, she reckoned, but the lack of certain other company was definitely a factor. She resolved not to think about Renee or Dean again until the last days of this trip, and enjoy the moments spent with new friends and every moment with Seth.
Eric dropped them off at the Briarwood Mall and promised to pick them up once the afternoon classes were finished, which safely gave them a couple of hours. Looking at the mall directory made Olivia's head spin - so many stores...we're definitely not going to get through all of them today…
Seth took Olivia's hand, "Trust me?" He started to pull her away from the directory.
Olivia followed reluctantly, with a suspicious look on her face, "Yeeesssss…."
"Let's get crazy and just go to stores as they come - no directories," he scoffed, gesturing disdainfully at the board, "no plans…" he pulled her further along, Olivia's feet slapping on the polished floor, "just taking the mall as it comes. One. Store. At. A. Time." With each word, he pulled her a little further along, chuckling at the pasted-on grin Olivia had on her face. "C'mon Madsen, where's your sense of adventure?" he challenged.
Olivia rolled her eyes, "Well I was hoping for more of a quick, planned, maneuver - in, out, done...I definitely don't think we're going to be spending a ton of time in…" she looked up at the store signs nearest to them, "...Lids, Bath & Body Works, and Zumiez...to name a few."
Seth chuckled and guided them down the walkway, "Well, rest assured, Livs - in between evaluations this morning, I was looking up women's clothing stores at Briarwood." He pulled out a piece of paper with a list of names written on it, "I thought it would be good to have this information in advance in case the adventure through the mall went suddenly south." He gave the paper to Olivia, "Your choice, Livs - we can adventure, or do targeted shopping, or both."
Olivia stopped and looked at Seth, holding the piece of paper out to her. Slowly, she took the paper from Seth and looked at it long enough that Seth thought he had done something terribly wrong. Finally Olivia looked up at him, and he saw her eyes glistening. Seth took a step forward, intending to apologize, but was stopped in his tracks when she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Seth put his arms around her by instinct, and they made a scene for about five seconds, until a group of easily amused teenagers started catcalling them. Olivia ended their kiss, but didn't let go of Seth, "I don't know if you've ever known someone who has lost a loved one, but dammit Seth - you are eerily good at being supportive."
Seth rested his forehead against hers, "I'm getting to know you, Olivia, and I pick up on things. I know that you don't do large groups of strangers - did you think i'd forgotten how you were that first night we met? I also know that everything is going to be new again for you on this trip - I know you're feeling vulnerable - which is probably also why you drank so much last night…" they shared a laugh, remembering how they'd felt this morning.
Seth's face was earnest as he locked her eyes with his, "I want to support you in your next steps, Olivia - all the way. I know that you'll tell me if I take a step wrong - at least I certainly hope you know that you can."
Olivia was at a loss for words, so she could only nod mutely. Her heart felt like it was going to pound right out of her chest, and her face was hot. She squeezed her arms around Seth one more time, and just held him tightly.
They did do some wandering around, which is mostly what people do in malls, and indulged themselves at a Cinnabon midafternoon. Eventually Olivia allowed Seth to coax her into Forever 21, despite her protests that she was definitely too old for the store.
"Olivia, trust me…"
Olivia tried on dresses, tops, bottoms, and bathing suits, and actually was able to cross off most of the items on her list...Forever 21 even had shoes! Who knew? She particularly liked the camisole dresses - she'd gotten one in teal with an above-the-knee hem, and a slightly longer one in black. Definitely going to need a new bra with those...I may need to make a stop at Victoria's Secrets… And even though it was midsummer, she thought they'd be chilly without at least a basic coverup so she also picked up a belted black kimono wrap to complete the ensemble.
Seth tried to pay for her new wardrobe, then tried to pay for a part of it, but Olivia was firm, "I'm on a paid leave, Seth - my bank account is full but there's cobwebs - I fully expect to have a phone call from the branch after this…" She did let Seth carry some of the bags, though.
They walked a little while longer, Olivia definitely wanted to find a lingerie store to complete the ensemble. She spotted the Victoria's Secrets store and handed her bags to Seth, "If you want to find a bench or something, I need to find something to wear underneath what I just bought. I will not be long - give me fifteen minutes? I'll definitely be ready to go after this."
Seth grinned wolfishly, "In that store? Take all the time you need - it will be worth the wait."
Olivia slapped his arm, "Cool your jets, Rollins...I'll be right back." She strode purposefully into the lingerie store, fully intending to grab a couple of strapless bras off the rack and going to the counter. The saleswoman had other ideas.
"Hey there - can I help you find something?" She was pretty and polite, and she didn't come on too strong.
Olivia found herself smiling back, "Yeah, I just bought out half of Forever 21 and now I need a bra to wear underneath the camisole dresses." She looked around the store, the saleswoman trailing behind at a nonintrusive distance. "My boyfriend is sitting out there with the haul, so I don't have a ton of time."
The saleswoman stepped away and took a good long look at Seth, maybe a bit too long...but he is awfully pretty, I can't say I blame her… "Sweetie, if that's your boyfriend?" Olivia nodded, "You're gonna need more than just a bra...let me show you what we can do for him."
Seth sat with a small plastic wall of bags at his feet. He looked at his watch, and realized Olivia had been in the store longer than she had said she would be. He sighed, not regretting the wait - he'd be insane to try to hurry her out of there. He looked around at the neighboring stores, hoping to find somewhere to kill a few minutes. He wandered down the mall boulevard, and spotted a jewelry store on the corner and shrugged, What the hell...she actually didn't get anything other than basics - maybe I can find something in here for her. Seth carted the entourage of bags along with him, and started eyeballing the pieces in the display case in the front.
"You look like you need the perfect ring."
Seth's head snapped up, his heart in his throat, "No!" he snapped, and then at the salesman's reaction, he toned down his response, "I mean, not yet, anyways...my girlfriend and I are going to be celebrating our one month anniversary, and I thought a necklace or something would be a nice gift."
His salesman beamed, "Of course, sir. If you want to bring your - bags - around this side, we have some very nice, not too intimidating pieces I think you will like."
Seth came around the corner and saw the necklaces indicated. He craned his neck to see if Olivia had come out of Victoria's Secret yet and then back to the display case...so many necklaces...and geez, do people actually wear these? I don't know - wait. He poked his finger at a necklace and looked up at the salesman, "That one. That's the one I want." Please don't let it be a thousand dollars...
The salesman smiled, almost proudly, "That is perfect - let me get it packaged for you. Won't be a moment."
Seth nodded nervously, craning his neck to make sure Olivia wasn't already out and looking for him. He handed his card to the cashier and thanked the salesperson effusively, knowing he sounded and looked like a nervous wreck. What is wrong with me?
He took the bag from the cashier and realized he had to hide it somewhere - he'd have to keep a close eye on the bag he puts it in and stash it in his suitcase when they got back to the hotel room.
He saw Olivia coming out of Victoria's Secrets and tried to dash away from the jewellers as quickly but quietly as he could, carrying four plastic shopping bags. Seth pretended he'd given up waiting and had opted to pace aimlessly up and down the lanes of the mall. "Olivia!" he called when he was within earshot and nodded his head when she looked his way.
Olivia jogged down the lane towards him, taking two bags from his hands when she got close enough. Seth noticed she had one bag from Victoria Secrets, "Did you find what you were looking for?"
She nodded, a blush creeping into her cheeks, "Um...yes. The salesperson was very...helpful." She took his free hand in hers, "Let's call that ride and get back - I am completely done with shopping for a very long time, I think."
"It's been a while since I've been in a mall this long - in person shopping is for young people."
Olivia laughed, "Actually they're doing more online shopping...look around you - the average in this part of the hall has to be at least forty...do you see anyone under twenty-one here?"
Seth groaned and pulled out his phone to call a Lyft, "You do wonders for my ego, you know that?"
Olivia giggled and pulled him close for a kiss, "You know it."
Their ride came and took them back to the hotel. Seth was very careful to not let the bag with Olivia's necklace in it out of his sight. When they got to their room, he managed to get the whole bag buried inside the inner pocket of his suitcase, and zippered it up. "Whatcha doing?" Olivia's voice startled him, causing him to whirl around guiltily and spit out the first thing that came to mind.
"I was just...making sure I had clean ginch for tomorrow."
Olivia stared at him for a moment, then looked behind him to the suitcase, "Well I would hope so...we've only been gone for a couple of days…" She gave him an odd look, "Are you feeling okay? You look a little...I don't know, but you look like you might be running a fever - you're not getting sick are you?" She reached up to feel his forehead, which he bore with good humour… anything to get her off the scent…
"I don't think so - although I might be a bit tired out after hauling your bags all over town," He caught her wrist as she was about to smack him, and held it above her head. Olivia regarded him expectantly as her arm hung suspended about her head.
"Are you done? I'm starving…" she tried to walk away, and pulled a little harder on Seth's arm, aggravating his sprained elbow and making him wince and drop her arm.
"Oh my god Seth, I'm so sorry! Are you sure you shouldn't go to the emergency and get that looked at? Do you want me to get you some ice?" Olivia hovered for a moment, then went to get the ice bucket from the bathroom.
Seth held up his uninjured arm, "It's okay, Olivia - I just need some ibuprofen and some ice and i'll be fine." He sighed, "Sorry...I had thought we could walk to a restaurant, but right now I don't really feel like walking with this-" he gestured at his elbow, wincing again.
"Why don't we order in, and watch TV?" Olivia suggested, guiding Seth over to the bed, "You lie down, I'm going to get some ice and some drugs...don't move." She made sure Seth was comfortable, taking his shoes off for him and giving him the remote for the TV.
"Olivia, i'm not an invalid - it's not that bad! I - ow!" he tried to prop himself up on his bad elbow and immediately regretted it.
Olivia popped her head around the corner from the bathroom, "Seth, I said to lie down for a reason - " she looked at his elbow, "and if that thing gets any more red looking, I'm calling Eric and getting you into a clinic in the morning." She stepped out, ice bucket in hand, "You haven't been walking around a mall all afternoon with your elbow like that have you?"
Seth shook his head, "No - just since you almost ripped my arm out of my socket…"
Olivia tsked, "Well, that'll teach you not to mess with the big dog." She winked cheekily, and turned to go and fill the ice bucket. Seth heard the door close and flopped back on the bed, elbow throbbing. He looked at it critically - it was definitely swollen, but it didn't look bruised or red - hopefully he could skip the visit to the medical clinic if he kept it iced and kept taking the anti inflammatories
He clicked on the television, and tried to find something they could both enjoy - with his elbow as it currently was, they weren't likely to be able to get up to much else tonight. He found a channel running a marathon of old Twilight Zone episodes and thought that might keep them occupied until they could fall asleep.
"Well, she liked the old Planet of the Apes movies...this is in that family of geekery...and if she doesn't like it, I have no doubt she'll change the channel." He grinned, remembering Olivia standing up for herself to Theresa at dinner last night - it kinda felt good to have someone want you to be theirs. And although I don't doubt that Zahra would have done the same thing, she would have done it to intimidate the other person, and not to take a stand for the relationship.
Seth heard the door open, and after a few minutes, Olivia came and sat on the bed beside him. "Holy crap, did you leave anything behind in the snack machine?" Olivia had laid out a spread of epic carb proportions: at least half a dozen bags of every kind of chip or cheese-related snack, several rolls of Life Savers, Jolly Ranchers, and 2 packages of Famous Amos cookies.
Olivia looked at the small horde of junk food in front of her, "Well, yeah - I had to in case you wanted anything…" Seth's eyes goggled and she laughed, "Okay fine, I'll share...i'll have to put it on your tab, though…I actually didn't intend to buy the entire machine out. I had to go to the front desk to get a plastic bag for the ice pack, then I got to thinking about the machine and I only had a twenty on me, so I got them to give me a couple rolls of quarters, and then when I went to the machine...I kind of lost control...and the front desk had given me couple of extra bags so…" she shrugged.
Seth looked at her, amused, "You already scarfed down a bag of gummies, didn't you?"
Olivia looked stricken, and held a hand up to her chest, "What? How can you possibly - yes, fine - there was only one pack of sour Jolly Rancher gummies, I ate the whole bag just before I came back to the room." She pulled the crumpled package out of her pocket and threw it in the garbage next to the bed.
Seth reached for the bottle of ibuprofen, and his water bottle beside the bed and downed two caplets quickly. He started to reach around Olivia to pull her close to him, then stopped, realizing he couldn't do that with his injured elbow. "We're going to have to switch sides for tonight, Livs - at least if I want to be able to put my arm around you," he murmured.
Olivia looked over at him. "Do you want to put your arm around me?" she asked softly.
He chuckled and dropped his head before answering, "Very much so...I would like to do a fair bit more than that, actually," He reached a good hand over to brush a stray piece of hair that had fallen over her eyes, "but I can't until this-" he gestured at his bad elbow, "feels less like there's a hot nail in it."
Olivia sat up quickly and gently pulled his injured arm to where she could look at it. It was starting to look a bit redder, she thought, but it wasn't really too swollen. She might be overreacting… and what was the doctor going to do anyways unless the pain was really bad? "It definitely looks redder, but it's not too swollen, I don't think - is the pain that bad? Maybe we should try to see if there's a clinic open…"
Seth shook his head, "The ibuprofen knocks it down pretty good, I don't think a doctor could do much more than that. I promise if I can't move it in the morning, i'll call a doctor - we've got at least half a dozen that are long term clients at the gym. Tonight, I just want to let the ibuprofen kick in, ice the crap out of my elbow, and watch Twilight Zone reruns with you."
Olivia found herself lost in his dark brown eyes, and leaned forward to kiss him, "That sounds like a pretty good night to me." She got off the bed and wandered over to the other side while Seth scootched over. Then she slid in beside him, resting her head on his shoulder and sighing softly when she felt his arm fall across her own and his head bending low to hers to whisper in her ear.
"What would you say if I told you we're leaving tomorrow?"
Olivia looked confused, "Well, I guess that's fine - but I thought we were supposed to be staying another two days?"
Seth nodded, and adjusted his ice pack, "Yes, that was the original plan - but most of those days were going to be training sessions with coaches and running classes. With my elbow like this, I won't be able to do it without being in a ton of pain. So I thought we'd go on to the next stop?" He took one of the cookie packages and tore it open with his teeth, taking one out of the package.
Olivia shrugged and took the other cookie from him, "Okay, but if that elbow is still bugging you after the next stop, I am dragging you to the doctor's whether you want to go or not - get me?" she poked his chest to make her point.
Seth hugged her closer, feeling her sink into him, "I am so happy to say that I do…" and grateful for it...