(Chapter 5. August 20th. Community General Hospital. Nearly lunch time.)

The steady thump-bump, thump-bump of a patient making good time on crutches announced Dr. Olivia Regis' arrival about ten seconds before she got where she was going. Jesse looked up and smiled, Steve felt his spine stiffen.

"Hi, Steve! Hey, Jesse! I have a question for you about that little girl you referred to me with the roller blade injury." At Jesse's blank look she continued. "Maria Alvarez. Six years old. You treated her yesterday."

"Oh! Yeah! Cute kid. Is she going to be all right?"

"Her knee should heal up fine, Jess, but," Olivia continued in a concerned tone, "I'm not sure she's going to be all right."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I was examining her she mentioned something about how every time she came to the hospital she met a different doctor, but I was the first woman. When I checked her records later, I found that she has been through the ER three times in the past four months."

"And you think she's being abused," Jesse concluded.

"Well, she fell down the stairs in May and came in with a concussion. In July, it was a sprained wrist, and now, her knee."

"I can't believe I missed that," Jesse said, shaking his head. "Do you want to call social services?"

"I'm not ready to do that, yet. I would like to talk to the other doctors who treated her first. I haven't met either of them yet, and I was hoping you'd introduce us."

"Sure," Jesse agreed, "Who are they?"

"Evans and...," Olivia furrowed her brow, "...I forget the other name."

"Ok," Jesse said. "I'll just pull up the records on the computer."

As Olivia sighed and leaned into her crutches to follow him, he put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Wait here, I'll come back to you."

"Thanks, Jess," she gave him a grateful smile. Turning to Steve as Jesse walked away, she said, "How are you doing?"

"Fine." He folded his arms across his chest and studied his watch.

"I haven't seen much of you lately."

"I've been around."

"You know, I've been meaning to..."

"Look at the time," Steve interrupted. "I'm on a case, I've got to go. I'll see you later. Tell Jess I said goodbye." He turned and walked away.

Jesse came back with the chart, "Here we go. Maria Alvarez.... Wh-Where'd Steve go?"

Olivia shrugged her shoulders and mimicked Steve's tone. "He's on a case; he had to go. He said to tell you goodbye."

Jesse gave a puzzled frown and shrugged back at her. "Anyway, Maria's other two doctors were Evans and Macalvie. As it turns out, they both come on duty this afternoon at four. How late were you planning to be here?"

Olivia laughed. "I've already got paperwork to catch up on. I can hang out until they come in."

"Ok. Then I'll introduce you this afternoon." He turned to go back to the ER, but Olivia stopped him.

"Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"You know Steve pretty well, right?"

At Jesse's nod, she continued. "Do you think he might be avoiding me?"

"I don't see why he would. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I don't know exactly," she said in a puzzled voice. "He hasn't said more than three words at a time to me since...well, since he helped me unpack, and he always seems to be leaving just as I am arriving."

"Well, that could be just bad timing," Jesse suggested. "His job does keep him pretty busy."

"I suppose," Olivia admitted, "but..."

"Hi, guys," Amanda called.

"Look, Steve's a pretty straightforward guy. If he had a problem with you, he'd let you know."

"Who does Steve have a problem with?" Amanda asked.

"Olivia thinks he has one with her."

"Nah," Amanda shook her head. "I don't see it."

"If you want me to, I can ask him about it," Jesse offered.

Olivia considered for a moment, then shook her head and said, "No thanks, Jess. I'll just make it a point to talk to him soon. If I want to get to the bottom of this, I have to ask him myself."

"Ok," Amanda said, "Now that that's settled, I'm starving. Who wants lunch?"

"I do."

"Me, too."

Jesse and Amanda turned and headed for the elevator to take them to the cafeteria. They had only gone a few steps when they heard Olivia call, "Guys."

They turned and offered apologetic looks as they waited for her to catch up then continued on their way at a slower pace with Olivia thump-bumping along on her crutches between them.





At about 5:00 Olivia was in her office dictating notes on several files for her assistant to transcribe in the morning. She was glad to know that she had been mistaken about Maria. Jesse had been so thoughtful to bring Evans and Macalvie to her office. She had been dreading the thought of trekking all the way back to the ER on her crutches. When a familiar figure slipped past her open door, she debated several minutes whether to track Steve down in his dad's office. She finally decided she needed to know what was going on. She pushed to her feet and thump-bumped her way down the hall.

As she came into Mark's outer office, she heard Steve's voice, "It doesn't matter, Dad. Olivia still thinks that's what I wanted."

"Well, did you?"

"Dad!" Steve sounded mortified. When Mark said nothing more, Steve continued. "Not that it's anyone's business, but if it had happened, no, I probably wouldn't have tried to stop it. I don't even know what I expected. We were having fun, and we were laughing, and then there was this quiet moment and I looked into her eyes and....Well, you know what happened then."

"Wish I did." While Steve was talking, Olivia had sidled to the open door of the inner office. She was determined to find out once and for all if Steve was avoiding her and why.

Steve muttered, "Speak of the devil."

"And she will appear, " Olivia finished for him.

Steve got up and headed for the door. "I'll see you at home, Dad." He spoke over his shoulder to Mark without looking where he was going and nearly clothes lined himself on the crutch Olivia had put up to block his way.

"Finally! The danged things are good for something," she said with triumph in her voice. "Mark, I hate to ask you this, but could I use your office to talk to Steve a bit? I'd ask him to come to mine, but with me crippling around like this, I'm afraid he might run away before I got him there."

Mark was already up and heading out his side door. "Not a problem, just put the place back together after you've had it out," he said with a chuckle.

"Dad!" Steve called helplessly as Mark pulled the door shut behind him.

Now Olivia was standing in the other doorway, and as Steve came toward her, she lifted one crutch and pointed it at his chest. "Sit down. We need to talk."

"Look, Olivia, I need to go."

"Yeah, I know. You're on a case," she said sarcastically.

When Steve made no move to take a seat, she raised the crutch threateningly, "Don't think I won't beat you with this."

Steve threw up his hands, rolled his eyes toward heaven, and flopped down sullenly on the couch. The sooner this was over the less painful it would be, and then he could tell his dad he had at least tried to talk with her.

"You've been avoiding me."

"No, I haven't."

"Oh. So, you're a liar and a coward, too. I am disappointed."

"Ok," Steve admitted uncomfortably, "Maybe I have been...trying to...keep some distance between us."

"Why?"

Damn, but she was direct. Steve just shook his head. There was a long, tense silence during which Olivia maneuvered herself directly in front of where Steve sat. After a while she said, "Neither of us is going anywhere until I get an answer."

Steve laughed sarcastically and told her, "If you really don't know, my explaining it to you won't make it any clearer."

She stood firm, lifted her chin, and said, "Try me."

There was another long pause, and finally Steve said, "I wouldn't have wanted you to have sex with me to show your gratitude. I'm not like that."

"What?!" Olivia shrieked. "What in the world would possess you to think I would do something like that?"

"I never thought you would, but you thought I thought you would."

Olivia ran a hand through her coppery hair, and in spite of himself, Steve found the gesture very appealing. She stared at the wall and said, "I'm confused." Now she had both hands in her hair, and she was pulling at it. "Why," she paused and nodded her head. "Would you think," she paused and nodded again. "That I thought," she laid her left hand on her breast. "That you thought," she gestured toward him with her right hand. "That I," she brought her right hand to her breast. "Would have sex with you," she gestured toward Steve with both hands. "To show my gratitude?" She raised both hands in the air and let them fall to her sides.

"Because, Olivia, you as much as said so."

"Aughhh!" Her frustrated scream made Steve jump. "No, I did not!"

"Olivia, you did!" Steve insisted. "You said I was a great guy. You told me I had been very helpful. You said I made it a good day in spite of everything. You said you were grateful, and you said you were not ready to go in the direction we were headed."

She stared at him with a blank look in her green eyes. She opened her mouth to speak several times and closed it without a word. She looked like a beautiful fish, no, a mermaid, gulping air on the beach. Finally, she threw her hands in the air and flopped down on the couch beside him.

"That's exactly what I said, isn't it?"

"Yep."

"And you were hurt, or offended, or embarrassed, or some combination of all of the above."

"Yep."

"And that's why you've been avoiding me."

"Exactly."

"Well, Steve, I didn't mean it."

In the silence, she thought about what she had just said. It had sounded bad. "Well, yes I did mean it. But I always say exactly what I mean. I meant every word I said. I just shouldn't have said them all together."

"Huh?"

She turned to face him and waited patiently for him to face her. Finally, he did look at her, and she continued. "You are a great guy."

She reached out and caressed his cheek. Steve felt fire consume him.

She continued speaking, unaware of the effect she had on him, "And you were helpful, and it was a good day, and I was, I *am* grateful; but that's not why I didn't want to sleep with you."

Steve dropped his head and blushed a bit. It drove him crazy that she could make him turn red with just a word.

"Steve," she said softly. "We both know that's what was going to happen if one of us didn't stop it, right?"

Steve nodded, but he couldn't bring himself to speak. She was right. He had been hurt and embarrassed and angry. Now he was beginning to be afraid that he had lost something very special.

Olivia waited a long time, but he just couldn't look her in the eye this time. Finally, she reached under his chin and very gently, but very insistently forced his head up. Her face was so beautiful, so sympathetic. She smiled sweetly and told him, "Part of me really did...want to, you know? I just thought we should get to know each other first."

As he watched, tears welled up in her eyes. She said tenderly, "I really felt like we had just stumbled on to something extraordinary between us. Then you disappeared. Can we try again?"

Steve's voice was so choked with emotion that it came out a whisper, "I, uh, I really think we ought to, don't you?"

She nodded.

He took the hand that was under his chin. As he moved closer, he asked, "If I try to kiss you are you going to stop me again?"

"N-no."

He kissed her, tenderly at first. God almighty, it was so sweet. Then he pressed for more. She responded hungrily. Then something exploded between them. She leaned back, and he followed her. Her arms went around his neck; his fingers entangled themselves in her hair. They clung to each other as if a whirlwind were trying to pull them apart. Their breath came heavy with passion.

Then Olivia started to giggle.

Steve moaned his frustration. "What?"

She continued to giggle with Steve, entirely unamused, half lying on top of her. Finally, she said, "Steve, this is your dad's office. He knows we're here, but can you imagine us trying to explain ourselves if he walked in."

Steve quickly sat up and looked around blankly, as if just realizing for the first time where he was. "I don't think that would be funny," he said.

Olivia shrugged and said, "So, I have a strange sense of humor."

"Your office is right down the hall, isn't it?" Steve suggested.

"Well, yeah, but I have work to do, and you really are on a case, right?"

Steve threw his hands in the air and nearly yelled, "Woman, what are you doing to me?"

Olivia smiled and said, "I don't know, but you sure are cute when you're frustrated. Look, come over for dinner around seven? I'm a great cook. After dinner, well, no promises, but...we'll see."

Steve sighed. "Ok. Seven it is. By the way, how's the little girl?"

"Huh?"

"The one you asked Jesse about."

"Oh! Maria. It was a false alarm. She fell down the steps when someone bumped her in a fire drill at school. The ambulance brought her in then. The sprained wrist was on her birthday, when she got her roller blades. Her parents bought her wrist braces after that. She hurt her knee when she was skating and hit an uneven spot on the sidewalk and twisted her leg."

"Sounds like the poor kid has some rotten luck," Steve observed.

"Yeah, poor thing," Olivia agreed. "She's what a friend of mine used to call a crap magnet."

Steve looked puzzled.

"You know, if crap's gonna happen, it's gonna look for her to happen to."

Steve shook his head and laughed, "I know what you mean," he said, "But you do have the strangest way of expressing things."

"Ah, you'll get used to it. Everyone does. See you at seven?"

"At seven." Steve stole a quick kiss and headed for the door.

Olivia called out, "Be careful."

Steve waved his acknowledgement.