Chapter 22: The Zoo
Alex had actually gone to bed before Olivia had go home from Elliot's but she was up and prepared to start an interrogation the following morning. Chloe had been awake with Olivia since 5 am, which as she'd had a late night the night before, meant she was feeling particularly tired right now. Thankfully though by getting up and attending to Chloe, it meant that Alex had been able to sleep in. The pair had simply watched some cartoons at a low volume on the television this morning.
"Al!" Chloe squealed the minute she spotted her favourite aunty emerging from the bedroom.
"Hi you!" Alex greeted as the little girl climbed off the couch and ran over.
"Hey Chlo, lets give aunty Alex a moment to wake up sweetie, before you turn her into a jungle gym. Alex, there is coffee waiting in the kitchen" Olivia reminded the little girl as she could clearly see her friend needed a few minutes to wake up before her daughter bombarded her.
"You know me too well" Alex remarked as she headed into the kitchenette in Olivia's apartment to get a coffee.
"So Chloe was telling me you guys watched Doc McStuffins last night and read 2 books before bed which is lucky as mommy only usually reads one book" Olivia remarked as Alex came back over towards the lounge room and took a seat on the couch next to Olivia.
"We certainly did and I think Doc McStuffins is my new favourite show and what good am I as an aunty if I can't spoil her when mommy's out" Alex remarked as Chloe made quick work to get into the spot between the pair rather than being in her mothers lap.
"Well Chloe definitely loves Doc McStuffins"
"An Aun Al" Chloe protested.
"Yes of course, and you love Aunty Al" Olivia remarked as she smiled at her little girl.
"So, how was last night?" Alex asked, trying to change the topic to something she had been dying to talk about since she'd heard Olivia get home last night. Whilst Olivia had thought that Alex was asleep, truthfully, she was just in her room talking on face time with Micah. Alex watched as Olivia just smiled at herself whilst gazing into her morning coffee, it was clear something had happened last night. It was just a question now of whether she could get out what that was from her friend or not.
"It was…lovely" Olivia responded to the question.
"Well I think from your reaction, it was a bit more than lovely" Alex teased.
"No, it was very nice. I really enjoyed being able to spend time with Elliot and the kids. It turns out the twins are really good at Uno and go fish as they beat me every time" Olivia replied. Alex knew that Olivia was deflecting the attention to that of the children which meant that something serious had happened and she only hoped it was positive.
"And Elliot?" Alex continued to prod.
"He's really good at both go fish and uno but the twins still beat him" Olivia laughed, she knew this wasn't what her friend wanted to know.
"No he was really good too, I stayed till after the twins had gone to bed and we spent time just talking. He and the twins are going to be joining us at the zoo today" Olivia answered, she hoped the mention about the zoo would cause Chloe to join in and distract this interrogation.
"Oh really? Any particular reason for that?" Alex asked, she just wouldn't let it go.
"Ok, fine. Elliot and I are…looking into things between us, there may or may not have been a kiss or two last night" Olivia admitted defeat, she would just give in to Alex now.
"Go You! Did you kiss him first or did he kiss you first?"
"Oh my god I'm not discussing that with you and it's not important. We are keeping it private from the kids and work, so don't expect us to be like….overly romantic or anything when they come to the zoo with us. You better be on you best behaviour though" Olivia warned to which Alex just nodded. She was now determined to try and get more information out of Elliot at the zoo, despite this being the first time she would meet him. Alex's duty as a best friend was to make sure that this man was going to treat Olivia right and make sure her best friend was not going to be put through everything that Brian had put her through all over again.
Elliot stood with Elizabeth and Richard, by the entrance to the zoo. They were waiting for Olivia, Chloe and her friend whose name he didn't know, to arrive. Olivia had texted him earlier this morning to let him know that they wouldn't be heading out till early afternoon as Chloe needed to go down for a nap. This suited him and the twins perfectly though, as Elliot had to work on a few things at home for the business and then he spent the extra time he had reading with both twins, to ensure they kept improving in their reading. By the time this was done, they had lunch and it was time to get ready to leave. Olivia had once again refused to be picked up or take the car from them despite how much Elliot had offered, she had instead insisted that they would all meet at the zoo. Elliot couldn't say how things were going to go today considering that things had changed between him and Olivia last night and they weren't planning on telling the kids or anyone yet. They were simply going to play things as friends and enjoy the day all together. But Elliot already had the intention of asking Olivia out to dinner sometime this week, so they could have that first proper date as a couple.
The twins were excited to be at the zoo today and to be spending the afternoon with Miss Benson. They had been ready to go ever since Elliot had mentioned the plans for today. Elizabeth was especially excited, she had been looking at the map of the zoo since this morning and planning out exactly what order they would see the animals. Elliot was sure that he hadn't seen the little girl quite so excited or willing to plan everything out like this, in a very long time. He also didn't know how well she would take the idea that they likely wouldn't do everything set out in her plan in the order she set it out. It would be a lesson on taking other people's perspectives and wishes into consideration. Elliot did enjoy seeing his little girl so excited for everyone to be together though.
"Daddy where are they? When are they going to get here?" Elizabeth asked as they stood for a few minutes. She wasn't very good at being patient but Elliot already knew Olivia and the others weren't far away. Olivia had texted him just a few minutes ago telling him they were walking into the park now.
"They'll be here soon, I know you won't have to wait much longer" Elliot explained and tried to encourage patience with his daughter. Just as he did, he spotted Olivia pushing a stroller and another woman walking up beside her. He remained quiet and just watched Elizabeth closely to see how long it would take her to notice as he was sure if she looked hard enough, she could spot Olivia.
Surely enough, a moment later Elizabeth just took off running towards where Olivia was walking. He moved to keep a safe eye on her whilst Dickie started to follow his sister. Elliot didn't need to follow them to know where they were going but he just wanted to see what Olivia could spot them before they got to her, he wanted to make sure everyone was ok. Just like he expected, the minute the twins were closer to Olivia, she stopped and accepted their hugs tightly. Elliot couldn't help to smile as he watched the interaction and the group continued to walk towards the entrance, towards him. He smiled at Olivia as she looked at him and he saw her smile softly back. He knew that this was one fo the best things they were going to get today, with everyone around the whole time. However, he hoped that maybe he could steal away a moment later when they could be alone and he could kiss her at least once.
Alex had seen the sweet interaction between Olivia and these unfamiliar young children. She had made sure to hold on to the stroller with Chloe in as Olivia had bent down to embrace these two young children running up to her. Olivia had made sure then to introduce the kids as Elizabeth and Richard Stabler, Elliot's children and she explained that Elizabeth was in her class this year. Richard was quite the polite young boy as he extended his hand to shake Alex's hand whilst Elizabeth just went straight in for a hug greeting and then greeting Chloe. But Chloe hadn't taken that well, she was in a fussy mood today and Alex knew the struggles that Olivia had just to get the little girl down for a nap. But it seemed the little girl had only woken grumpier after her nap than before she went down. Alex had thought Olivia was going to cancel the zoo but when Alex knew that Elliot was going to be there, she knew there was no way Olivia would cancel.
When the group had been approaching the entrance to the zoo, Alex had seen the smile on Olivia's face as she looked at a younger man who was standing a little further ahead. Alex had known from that moment, that the man had to be Elliot and sure enough, when they approached the man, Olivia introduced him and Elliot had reached out to shake her hand almost instantly. Elliot had then proceeded to pay the entrance fee for the whole group and collected a few maps for the group. The twins had one each as they were not going to share today and then Elliot had one, which Olivia had agreed to share with him. Finally, Alex grabbed one for herself as a momento of the day.
They were headed towards the sea lion enclosure as that was the first vote of where the group wanted to go. Elizabeth and Dickie were walking at the front of the group, arguing over exactly what they were going to see next, Olivia was pushing the stroller with Chloe inside with Alex and Elliot on either side of her, talking as a group. Alex couldn't help but wonder whether there was a slightly more personal discussion going on between Elliot and Olivia, to what they were weren't verbalising. She wouldn't mention her thoughts to the group though. Elliot seemed very interested in getting to know Alex though and she really appreciated all his questions and making an effort to talk to her. Alex was just as eager to get to know him too though as the man who was really trying to woo her best friend.
"So how long are you in town for Alex?" Elliot asked as the group took a seat by the sealions and both Elizabeth and Richard took a seat near Olivia to talk about the enclosure. Chloe was in a mood about wanting to get out of the stroller and Olivia was trying to re-direct her attention to the animals.
"Um I'm not sure at this stage, really just however long she needs me to be here" Alex replied, she really didn't have much of a timeframe for this journey, she just wanted to be here for her friend. But she did expect to be here at least a couple of weeks at this stage.
"It was really good that you were able to come out here at such short notice and I'm sure Olivia must really like having you here" Elliot replied as they watched Olivia and the children.
"Thankfully I had leave stored up from work and I didn't really give her a choice in whether I was coming or not. She would only refuse if I offered to come and we both know she would never ask for help on her own for help" Alex explained, she was being careful not to expose too much information about Olivia here as she didn't know how they had really spoken about before.
"I've noticed that, she isn't one to accept too many things from other people, she wouldn't even let me send the car to collect you guys today"
"Its to do with her past, has she told you about that?" Alex asked.
"No?" Elliot replied, he was definitely curious to what Alex might be referring to right now, what had happened in Olivia's past?
"Well it's not for me to say and I know she will tell you about it when she's ready or she feels like she can. But whilst I really don't know a lot about you at this stage, I know you mean a lot to her and frankly, I've not seen her quite as happy as she is when she sees or speaks about you. I've not seen her this happy in a very long time" Alex explained
"She means a lot to me too, I've never known anyone like her" Elliot spoke honestly.
"And I know that whatever is going on between you two is brand new, but look after her, she's not had it easy in a long time. But I trust you will treat her right and I want you know that if you don't…I will hunt you down" Alex threated, in a light hearted but serious kind of way. Elliot knew there was some seriousness to her words though and he had to admit he was glad that there was someone else who was so protective of Olivia, just like he felt he needed to be for her. However, the main difference here was, Olivia would clearly let Alex be protective of her, but she wouldn't let him do that.
A/N: Firstly I apologise for the delay in updating this story. I'm currently working full time in a different position and preparing to move overseas. I wasn't sure I was going to get this chapter up till the end of this week with how busy things are. But due to the day off work due to fire risk, I had extra time to write. There aren't any fires near me but we're still on high alert with our Catastrophic Fire Warning today with the high heat and winds, things can change at any moment. I don't live near bush though so should be fine.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I don't know when I'll get the next one up but it may be a week or so, just know that I'm writing when I can. Please let me know what you thought of this chapter by leaving a review,
Until next time ;)
