Prompt #20: Fin and Phoebe want to set up Olivia and Elliot
Grace and Light
•••
"You're telling me they have never…"
"Never," Fin said with a shrug as he finished off his beer. Next to him, Phoebe scoffed as she watched Stabler lean in closer to Olivia at the bar. He said something to her that was clearly amusing as an especially bright smile graced her face for his benefit.
SVU and OCCB had partnered on yet another successful case. Having trusted partners to lean on for big cases was turning out to be a blessing. After a few bumps along the way, they'd really found a rhythm. This night at O'Malley's was a celebration of that.
"And now, they're not…" Phoebe pressed.
"Nope. At the rate those two move, we'll all either be dead or playing shuffleboard in the nursing home before anything happens."
"Fin you are such a gossip," Rollins said, shoving him playfully.
"He's not wrong. We've all heard the stories… the rumor mill has been spinning again ever since he came back." Bell had been wary of Stabler when he first bulldozed his way into her task force. She did her homework, didn't take much digging to tell those two were close.
"They never did anything. Liv would never…" Amanda was certain of Liv's character, she couldn't say the same for Stabler.
"Not then, but things are different now. But I stand by what I said, they're gonna take forever." Fin crossed his arms defiantly.
"Are you sure? Because…" She gestured toward them huddled together, Stabler's hand gliding from her back up to rest on Olivia's shoulder. They were way too cozy.
"Pretty sure. Liv said they are just trying to take time to figure out how to be friends in between all the madness going on with Wheatley. Stabler messed up bad all those years ago, so I don't blame her not trusting him."
Phoebe knew a little bit of their history. Partners that were too close, one married, the other single. Two beautiful people that met each other at the wrong time. Fin joked about the betting pools at the precinct, but Phoebe sensed a bit of sadness in the way her partner talked about Benson and Stabler's past, specifically how Olivia felt when Stabler disappeared. But Phoebe's eyes weren't deceiving her. These were still two people that cared deeply for one another. She caught a glimpse of it at her non-wedding last year but seeing them tonight was a whole new vibe. They buzzed. It was the only way she could think to describe the energy around them.
"Don't even think about it."
"Too late."
•••
Phoebe didn't typically casually chat up Olivia Benson without Fin around. They were friendly, talked about meeting up but something always came up. More than most, Phoebe understood the hectic life of a cop, especially that of an active and involved Captain like Olivia. Despite best intentions, they hadn't hung out much one on one, so it was a surprise when Phoebe dropped by Olivia's office in the middle of the day.
"Hey Phoebe, didn't expect to see you. How are you?" Olivia took off her glasses and got up to greet her.
"I'm good, keeping busy. OT is kicking my ass already this year."
"Preaching to the choir."
"I know you're busy so I'll get to it…Fin likes to talk, so I know it's been a weird and tough year for you. So, I thought maybe I could help."
"Okay…"
"Valentine's Day…"
"Phoebe—"
"Hear me out. My friend Marcus is a successful doctor and a single father. He would LOVE to take you out."
Olivia shook her head. Dating was the last thing on her mind nowadays. She could barely keep up with her day-to-day responsibilities, much less entertain new relationships.
"I don't know."
"He is so handsome, fit and he thinks you are beautiful."
"How—"
"I may have shown him pictures from our non-wedding and that party you and Noah came out for last summer."
Olivia paused for a beat. It had been forever and a day since she'd been on a proper date. Burton was her last and that left her traumatized for too many reasons. Things with Elliot were…complicated and would likely be that way for a while. Their time together had been so inconsistent and lately, it had been difficult to even get him to call her back. Frankly, she was shocked when he showed up at the bar with their teams; it had been an unexpected nice night. But she wasn't going to sit around while he couldn't even decide how good of a friend he wanted to be.
"Handsome?"
"Very, very handsome."
"Okay…why not, I'm in."
•••
Fin couldn't believe she had talked him into this scheme. It wasn't that he thought them hooking up was a bad thing. He knew his Cap and Stabler were meant for each other, everyone knew it. They were both so damn stubborn that he knew it would take ages for it to come to fruition if left to their own devices.
Liv was his best friend. The best friend he ever had. It made him laugh sometimes. If someone had asked his young self who his BFF would be at 60 years old, he never would have guessed a white lady cop. Never in a million years. But here they were and he loved that white lady cop like his own sister, his own blood. She deserved everything, including love. Even if love happened to be with that buffoon Elliot Stabler. While Phoebe talked him into it, the endgame was something he wanted for his friend, he just hadn't expected to be playing Cupid a week before Valentine's Day.
But there he was, sitting in a small diner a few blocks from the OCCB headquarters. He hadn't met with Stabler since he got back, the phone calls last year to set him up with Phoebe's sister going unanswered. He told Phoebe at the time that wasn't the best idea. Not just because his wife died six months prior, but because he suspected at some point Stabler and his Captain would start their slow as molasses dance again.
"Sorry I'm late." Elliot appeared in front of him sliding into the creaky booth.
"No problem, but you're buying."
They played catch up on the job, Stabler's kids and Ken, the holidays. It was funny, they often butted heads back in the day and probably still would if on the same unit, but he felt a sort of kinship with Stabler. They both found common ground in how much they cared for Olivia.
"So, the non-wedding wedding was something else. How's the unmarried life?"
"We're good. Keeping things fun, we're living the life. And in that spirit, Phoebe and I are trying to return the favor to our friends. What are you doing Valentine's Day?"
Elliot, clearly caught off guard, laughed nervously. "Um nothing, probably working."
"Would you consider meeting up with Phoebe's sister for a little blind type of thing? Low pressure, fun Valentine's date. She's a teacher, single mother, and beautiful. Plus, we know her, so you know she's not crazy."
"Do I?" Elliot joked before turning a bit serious. This felt like a lot. "I don't know…"
"Look, you'd be doing me a solid. Phoebe has made this kind of a competition. She already got her friend Dana, her other sister, she even got Liv to agree. I've got Amanda and Carisi, but I cheated there because they're already dating, even though they think no one knows, so—"
"Liv is going?" Elliot interrupted making sure he heard him correctly.
"Yeah, Phoebe is setting her up with her doctor friend…Mark or Marcus maybe. I don't know."
Elliot chewed on his bottom lip. When she said, "for now," he really thought that meant leaving things open for them to be more, to be what he thought they were always meant to be. But the thought that it meant she'd only maybe allow him back into her life, that the 'friends for now' meant he could lose that title, well that thought killed him a little bit inside.
Fin almost felt bad. He saw the narrowing of Elliot's eyes the moment he said Liv's name, and worse, he saw a little of the lightness in his form slip away. So, his answer surprised him.
"Fine. Count me in."
•••
He admittedly hadn't tried very hard when getting ready. Eli had passed by the bathroom as he patted on aftershave and inspected himself in the mirror. When Elliot told him he was going on a blind Valentine's date thing, Eli nodded and shrugged, giving no indication how he actually felt. He'd almost forgotten how maddening the teenage years could be.
Elliot didn't necessarily feel ready to date around. He truly only wanted one woman, but she had drawn some lines and it seemed like that wasn't a possibility for now. This could be good for him. His last couple dalliances had been wrong, in many ways, so this could be a good way to ease back in.
He glanced at his body now, the marks that tarnished his skin plentiful. Some childhood scars, more from his life as a cop. He kept himself in great shape over the years. It had become a way to distract himself from the ways in which he wasn't fulfilled with his life. He'd been able to give Kathy more of himself, though not all, and Eli got a father who was present more often than he had been for his older children. He should have been over the moon and some days, he was. But there was a blackness that took root in his heart. It was sadness, an aching for something he couldn't have and that over time caused a kind of atrophy in the way he loved his own wife. He lived with it, though, because he had done the right thing for his family. He owed it to them.
But Kathy was gone and now he was having trouble making sense of everything, the meaning of it, the cruelty. Guilt wracked him in debilitating ways last year. Much of it peeled off as he got help, spent time with his family, and as he found increasing peace in the fact Liv was back in his life. It was his fault she hadn't been in his life for so long, but he was determined to get his best friend back even if that's all she'd ever let him be.
He finally left the bathroom, dressing quickly. A black suit tailored perfectly for his form, a maroon shirt his mother had given him for Christmas, and a slim black tie. It was honestly something he'd wear to work nowadays, but it would work for a date he didn't really want to go on anyway.
"Mama, I'm heading out," he called as he slipped into his jacket.
"Dinner with Olivia?" she asked hopefully as she stirred the pot of soup she'd been working on all day.
"No, blind date thing. I'll be back by midnight. Knowing you, you might still be up."
"Oh. Okay, well, have a good time."
He smiled at the disappointment she wasn't bothering to mask. Bernie and Kathleen had been throwing the most unsubtle of hints at both him and Olivia. It started at their Christmas gathering and only got worse as the weeks passed. He thought that if, by some cruel punishment for his sins, Liv decided that they should only be friends, his mother and daughter might almost be more devastated than he would be. Almost.
•••
It had been way too long since she properly prepared herself for a first date. A spa weekend beforehand to touch up her color, get a facial, and a massage. It left her refreshed and re-energized, something she desperately needed after the last couple months, hell, the last few years.
Dating had come so easy to her earlier in life. It wasn't just that she had more time for herself despite the demanding job. There was an ease in her confidence back then that disappeared on her now more often than it used to. She knew it was something all women felt as they aged, but the last couple years had brutalized her.
With a fluffy white towel wrapped tightly around her body, she delicately ran a comb through her long locks. She really loved her longer hair. It was harder to take care of, no doubt. Extra shampoo and condition time, longer to dry, more complex to style on her own, but it was one of the constant things that made her feel beautiful. She opened the towel to finish drying her body. She let her own eyes roam, moving from the fullness of her breasts to the all too familiar scars, somewhat faded with time, down to the width of her hips, thickness of her thighs, and the softness of her belly.
Olivia didn't look how she did 20 years ago, but when she really took a moment of peace to look at herself, she appreciated her now body for so many reasons. Yes, it bore evidence of her trauma, but more than that it was the body that kept her going every day. Crunchy ankle aside, it had served her well and she was grateful for that.
She finished her moisturizing, did a simple blowout with a rounded brush and applied a flawless face of makeup. Just the dress was left.
Forest green or a deep maroon. She had defaulted to her typical black at first, but she noticed her pattern recently, so much black and gray. She needed some color back in her life. So she threw the black dress back in the closet and went for two dresses she'd yet to ever wear. The green was reminiscent of the dress she wore to the police charity event where the unfortunate Rob Miller saga began. She loved that dress, but the ruffled sleeve might leave her too cold if the restaurant was drafty. She thought about those things nowadays.
She went with the maroon dress, three-quarter sleeve, a generous enough V to give a glimpse of cleavage. It was form-fitting, though not tight. She felt sexy. Noah's eyes bulged out of his head when she breezed through the living room, something like pride in his face. His kind words that she looked "so pretty" injected an extra pep in her step. Lucy assured her of the same and promised she was good to stay the night if necessary. Olivia laughed, ensuring her she'd likely be back tonight, though not promising. You never know.
• •
She was early. When she gave Phoebe's name to the hostess, the young woman said the table would be ready shortly, inviting her to grab a drink at the bar while she waited. Alcohol would do well to calm the bit of nerves starting to creep up. She texted Phoebe to let her know she was early and at the bar.
Your date will be matching you ;-). Maroon dress shirt, black tie, black suit
The bartender came back with her bourbon, putting it on the open tab for her table. The warm burn of the liquor down her throat comforted her and did the trick taming the nerves. She could do this.
•••
He wished he had just used the valet, he had to park so far and was now running slightly late. He sent Fin a quick text to let him know he'd be there in a few, hoping he didn't keep his date waiting too long.
You're good. Table is not ready yet. She's at the bar, maroon dress, can't miss her.
He sighed as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. He wasn't nervous, but he was apathetic so he tried to shift his mindset. While he hadn't really looked forward to this evening, he didn't want to be rude or offend Phoebe's sister. He would be charming and kind and then never make a second date. Glancing at his watch, he thought he might be able to make it home by 10. That should be early enough to text Liv to gauge how her date went without actually asking about her date. He didn't want to be that obvious, but he was already dying to know.
•••
She finished off her bourbon and glanced at the time on her phone. She debated ordering a second drink but thought better to pace herself. She couldn't hold liquor like she used to. Her eyes scanned the crowd and for a moment she thought she caught a glimpse of a familiar bald figure by the door. As quickly as she saw him, he was gone, and part of her thought it was her hopeful subconscious.
He popped into the restaurant, quickly dodging to the side when a couple engrossed in each other nearly ran him over. He re-oriented himself and made his way through the thick throng of people that had crowded the bar area. He caught a glimpse of the maroon dress, but the woman was facing away and still a ways away. For a moment he thought it was her, but he quickly brushed it off as high hopes.
When she scanned the crowd again, she saw him at the same moment he saw her. Their expressions closely mirrored the other, eyes sparkling but confused, mouths slightly agape.
His eyes hungrily scanned her entire body head to toe, partially to confirm her description did in fact match what Fin described, but also to appreciate how beautiful she was. When his eyes found hers again, she was clearly doing the same and came to the same conclusion. They'd been set up.
"I'm going to kill them. Weekend on-calls for Fin for a month," Olivia grumbled, but her smile betrayed the threat.
"I didn't know. I swear. You um—you look beautiful, stunning."
Her checks flushed instantly, his too.
"Thank you…So, who did you think you were meeting?" she asked, eyes ablaze with what he hoped was jealousy.
"Phoebe's sister. Apparently, they'd been trying to set me up for a while."
Olivia nodded to accept his claim that he had no idea. She bit at her lower lip, an uncertainty crossing her features. Before he could say anything else, the hostess appeared to let them know the table was ready.
"Listen, if you're not comfortable with this, we can—"
"No. It's just dinner, Elliot. It's fine."
Just dinner. The nervousness he wasn't feeling before, suddenly filled every part of him. Odd because he'd known this woman for decades, but the prospect of sitting across from her on a date neither of them was prepared for? That was terrifying.
Their waiter came immediately to get their drink orders and to bring them water. Olivia went with another bourbon, Elliot getting the same.
"Who were you expecting?"
"Some doctor Phoebe knows."
He wondered if Phoebe had to bait her into accepting as Fin had done to him. He was almost embarrassed to have fallen for it. Thinking back now, Fin did have that stupid grin on his face and was entirely too chatty.
He took a moment to look at her, his furrowed brow softening as his lips turned up slightly. She was fidgeting and her mouth was turned down. She was annoyed now that it was settling in that she'd been manipulated. While she worked through who she was most pissed at, he let his eyes wander. From the slope of her neck down to her shoulder, the generous swell of her breasts that sat perfectly, his mouth watering at the slight wrinkle where they were pushed together. Her hands were wrapped around her water glass and he realized she was watching him, watch her. Shit.
"How have you been?" Her fingers toyed with the edge of her water glass. She'd texted him a few times after the little get-together at O'Malleys but he'd only responded a couple times.
It was a question she shouldn't have to ask. When Wheatley was forced back into Elliot's everyday life, his major focus was getting justice for Kathy's murder.
"I'm okay."
It was a lie.
Olivia rolled her eyes. She was short patience suddenly.
"You know what, Elliot, if we're going to talk in circles around the actual truth, I don't want it."
She moved quickly to get up. To get away from him, but before she could pass him by he reached for her wrist.
"Stay. Please."
"Why? You won't be honest with me. You're jerking me around when I've only tried to be here for you. I'm a fool."
He could see her pain, he recognized it as similar to the pain that stared back at him in the mirror. This shouldn't be so hard. Ten years and she was finally back in his life, yet here they were.
"I'm not okay. I'm not…please." A light tug on her arm and she moved back to her seat.
He watched her rub her chin. She used to do it now and again when she was debating something with herself. Some things never change.
"I thought…I thought after the mistrial I could get past it, let it go. But I can't. He took something from me."
Something. It was a strange way to say it. She turned the word over in her head. "He took your wife, Elliot."
He shook his head. Not just her.
"It was more than that, Liv."
His voice cracked to just a whisper, eyes glassy and devastated. This probably wasn't the best place for this conversation. But they couldn't keep tiptoeing around each other, or they would never get back any semblance of what they once had, and definitely nothing more. The longer it went on, the more their chance slipped away.
"My father was an abuser..." he started quietly. Her brow furrowed in concern, clearly not expecting him to begin there. "He—he lived for no one but himself, wasn't concerned with being any kind of stability for his family. The opposite actually, he tore us apart."
He'd only mentioned his father once or twice over those 13 years together. Always in passing, never good.
"When Kathy and I got pregnant with Mo we were scared, but I did the right thing. Married Kathy, got us in a stable spot financially, and knew that was my life going forward. I'd never leave because I'd never be my father."
"You're a good man, Elliot. A good father."
He winced. Sometimes he believed that, but not recently. Not since Kathy died.
"I loved Kathy, I did. I loved her for her sweetness, tolerance, for her dedication to our family, for being an amazing mother…for trying to love me despite everything. But I—"
He stopped, his chest was tight and his mouth bone dry, but if he didn't say this now he wasn't sure he'd ever say it. They didn't use words like this with each other. It was always shorthand and reading each other's eyes.
"It's okay, Elliot." Her hand reached across the table for his, an anchor. He took it, flipping their hands so he could tightly intertwine their fingers.
"I realized that it wasn't just Kathy I needed vengeance for, but the very thing—" he shook his head, this was so hard to put into words. Olivia let the silence sit between them, shaking her head at the approaching waiter who took the hint and turned on his heel to help another table.
"I thought when I left all those years ago… I thought I was doing the right thing for my family. I was being the stability they needed, I was doing what my father was too weak-willed to do, I put them first."
He brought his other hand onto the table to grip hers in both of his. When he looked at her to say this last bit a sense of calm washed over him, filling the voids and cracks that had felt so hollow for months.
"When he killed Kathy, he took that away from me. He took away that wholeness of my family that I honored over everything and everyone. I honored them over my own selfish wants, needs, so that I could prove that I wasn't my father. I gave you up Liv, I gave up you and me because I had to put them first… I'm not my father."
"You're not, El. You're not."
"I wanted to be selfish. I wanted to reach for you after Gitano, during the separation, after Rook, after Royce, after Jenna. I wanted to stay. But I couldn't. I couldn't do any of that because it wasn't about me. In a way, it was maybe, but it always came down to my family."
His eyes were wild, saying this out loud to her face was something he'd only ever imagined. In a hundred different ways, on lonely walks down narrow Roman streets, or sometimes with a cup of tea on his terrace late at night, he imagined all the ways he would have told her what she meant to him. He never expected to be here, sitting across from her in the flesh. Her mere presence overwhelming in this moment, but he had to finish.
"I can't help but think, if I'd made different choices… If I'd been selfish maybe he couldn't have taken that from me. Kathy would still be here for the kids and married to someone she fully loved and who fully loved her back. And maybe I…maybe I'd be with you."
When he dared to look up again her eyes were wide, tears pooling on the verge falling.
He'd said too much, too soon. What must she think of him.
"I shouldn't have left the way I did. You've always been stronger than me. I thought it'd be easier for you, for me. But it just made it harder."
Olivia shook her head, running her free hand over her mouth and over her chin. She swiftly swiped the corners of her eyes, keeping her impeccable makeup intact.
"Elliot…" a whisper, barely audible, but painful.
"You don't have to say anything. This—it probably wasn't the best place for this. I just—I had to get it out. I don't want to keep hurting you."
He wanted to say it, tell her he meant it when he blurted it out, when he wrote that last line in the letter, when he tried to tell her in the voicemail. But he could see she was raw. They could handle this for now, but anything more and they might break. But like always, she was stronger than him and she had something to say.
"For the last year, I've firmly believed there was nothing you could offer up as an explanation that would let me forgive you."
Brutal. He nodded. He knew this. He felt it in the emotional distance she kept from him, the too formal exterior she kept up with him.
"I was devastated when you left. It made me question everything about those 13 years. Everything. At the very least I always thought you were my best friend. At most…" She smiled tightly, painfully letting the thought die out. "And then you were just gone. Ignored my calls, texts. I started to let you go and then when the worst thing that ever happened to me was over I called you. I remember thinking if he picks up, maybe I can forgive him, if he doesn't…I never will."
Elliot's stomach turned and churned, he felt sick. He had sensed there was something huge he missed, something horrible. But he wouldn't ask now. Was this when she finally walked away? Was this moment the moment he truly lost her? He might not make it if it was. Fucking Valentine's Day.
"Elliot, I wish you'd said goodbye. Even if it was a forever goodbye. But I understand why you didn't."
"Couldn't." The correction was small, but important.
"Yeah…"
The silence was deafening once again. He still wasn't sure what she meant. She could understand him, but still withhold her forgiveness. But she was grace and she was light.
"Take a walk with me?" Her voice was thick, shaky, but a small, small smile graced her lips.
He couldn't help the ridiculous grin from growing across his whole face. The breath he'd been holding expelled from his body in relief. He felt anew.
"I'd love to walk with you."
He threw a bill on the table before helping her back into her coat, his hands running down her arms, taking one of her hands in his own.
Outside a sprinkling of snow floated from the dark sky onto the New York City sidewalks. The path in front of them was clear; the temperature was slightly too warm to allow the snow to stick to the ground.
It felt right, the two of them together on the streets of New York walking shoulder to shoulder. The last chapter of his life was still unfinished, would be until Wheatley was put behind bars or in the ground, but that didn't mean he wasn't allowed to plant the seeds for his next chapter.
"Hey, Liv?"
He gently stopped her with a tug on her elbow. She looked at him with big brown eyes, not in surprise, but with a tenderness that he'd seen so many times in the past. He was thankful to see it again.
He had loved his wife. That much was true.
But he loves Olivia in a way that defies time, space, and definition. She's quite literally woven into the fabric that makes him human, that gives him his soul. It happened without his permission, without him knowing, and without boundary. There was nothing more true.
"I um—I need to finish this, with Wheatley."
"You need to stay alive." Her hand came to rest against his face much like it had that one night on his terrace. But this time she lingered, her fingers pressed gently against his neck and cheek, her thumb stroking gently. "But you're right, you need to be the one."
"I won't say the game I'm playing isn't dangerous, it is. You know me." He smirked, pressing his face into the touch of her hand. She laughed in agreement, stepping closer, her body inches from his. He reached up hesitantly, brushing back a long lock of hair that obscured some of her beautiful face.
"Just…be careful."
The gentleness of his smile for her made her stomach flip. The hardness of this man was negated in this moment by the softness in his face. When his hand in her hair moved to the back of her neck, her stomach dropped.
"I missed you so damn much." His voice was breathy and his eyes glassy as they bore into hers willing her to believe him. Willing her to tell him the same.
She was grace and she was light.
"I missed you."
Her hands pressed to his chest now, seeking confirmation he was really there, that he was actually standing in front of her when she thought for so long he never would again.
"Liv…I know there's so much to work through here. So much for me to earn. But I—" His eyes looked to her lips. It wasn't the quick flicker of a glance that she was used to over the years. His gaze lingered now, his voice just a whisper. "I want to know everything about you… This is just a start, a promise…"
They never thought they'd have this moment. This final first kiss.
Her lips were as soft as he'd always imagined, velvety and full. His mouth was insistent against hers begging for passage. The touch of her tongue on his lower lip granted him the permission he prayed for. The reality of the moment hit them all at once, hands grasping at the other's face, breathing a forgotten function. She was grace and she was his light. Her mouth quite literally breathed life back into him.
She eventually did have to pull back, gasping for air before resting her head on his shoulder and falling into his warm embrace.
"This is a promise of our new start, Liv…"
"I'll be here when you're ready…"
•••
Fin sat at his desk finishing the last of the DD-5s. He hadn't heard from Liv or Elliot, so he was almost sure he was going to hear it when the Cap got in today. Which appeared to be now as the elevator door opened and a familiar heeled cadence made its way towards him.
She said nothing to him as she tapped away loudly on her phone. Her door shut behind her.
It was going to be worse than he thought. He busied himself and was surprised when he glanced at the time and hours had passed. For the first time all day, her door opened.
"Fin, a minute."
Her tone was stern enough to alert Rollins and Velasco, who threw him a sympathetic look. He typed a quick message to Phoebe.
Say a prayer baby, Cap called me in
He slowly made his way to her office, shutting the door behind him.
"Listen, we were just trying to help you guys out. Harmless. Just a fun night between old friends."
When she just stared at him, he nervously sputtered on.
"Come on, Liv. It's Elliot. No big deal, right?"
She took off her glasses and came around the other side of the desk. Fin sighed in resignation wondering how many on-call weekends he was about to get saddled with.
The last thing he expected was her arms around his neck. Confused he put his hands on her back, returning the embrace. They didn't do this. They had each other's backs for decades, but they weren't the kind of friends that hugged it out. She held onto him tightly though, he did the same.
"You okay there, Cap?"
She laughed, wiping at what he guessed was a tear-threatening escape.
"Thank you. You and Phoebe. It was a wonderful night."
"Yeah?" His eyebrows skyrocketed north.
"Yeah… I think we'll be okay. A new beginning."
Fin couldn't help the cheesy grin on his face. Olivia tilted her head at him curiously, a curious grin crossing her lips.
"What?"
"Just happy for you Liv," he walked to the door, turning around before leaving, "I need to call Munch."
"Why's that?"
"I'm collecting on a 22-year bet, he owes me 300 bucks."