His Feminine Side
Chapter 2
~oOo~
At 6:30pm, Olivia found herself flying frantically throughout her apartment looking much like the Tasmanian devil, but dressed in a gray fluffy towel. Elliot had gone home to change for their dinner date — was this a date?! — and he was due to arrive at her door in just 30 minutes. She had taken time to do her makeup — smoky eyes, dark liner, a touch of bronzer on her cheeks, and glossy, nude lips. Her hair was pulled away from her face, but was still down, with loose curls cascading down her back. The dress that Elliot had given her was laid across her bed just waiting to be put on, while she circled from her closet, to her bathroom, and back to her bedroom so many times that she was sure she had worn out a pattern on the floor. Olivia was second-guessing every aspect of her look, and as she glanced at the clock on her nightstand, she began to worry that she might still be in her towel when Elliot knocked at her door. Breathing like a runner nearing the end of a marathon, Olivia chastised herself aloud. "What the hell is wrong with me?" And for the second time today, "Get your shit together, Benson!"
Looking at the shoe rack in her closet, she tried to focus on settling her nerves. Because her dress was simple and black, she decided on a pair of red heels for a pop of color. She made her way back out to her dresser to try and figure out what to wear underneath her dress. Was it presumptuous of her to assume that Elliot would be seeing her in whatever undergarments she decided on? Was it wrong that she was even thinking about the possibility of sleeping with him on a first date? Did it even count as a first date if the person you were going out with was your partner for twenty-three years (minus a decade in the middle)? Olivia sighed as she ran her fingers through her underwear drawer, finally settling on a matching lace bra and thong set. "This is crazy. I am being ridiculous right now. This is Elliot…he's my best friend. We're going to go to a nice dinner, and then we'll see where the evening takes us." As a blush worked its way up her cheeks, it was obvious that she couldn't even fool herself about her thoughts on where the evening would take them.
Olivia slipped into the dress, shimmied her feet into her heels, and made her way toward the full-length mirror to see the finished look. This dress really was amazing, and seeing her reflection in the mirror, she was happy with the image staring back at her. Taking in a deep, calming breath, she slowly released it and made her way toward the living room. A knock at the door was all it took before she could feel her heart pounding in her throat. Looking through the peephole, she saw a familiar set of piercing blue eyes staring back at her, and she opened the door.
"Hey," she greeted him, a shy smile taking over her lips. She would have thought of a more original greeting, except that she had temporarily forgotten how to put together a sentence after taking a look at the man standing in front of her.
Elliot was dressed in a sharp blue suit, one that hugged his sinuous form in places that made Olivia's heart rate accelerate. A plum-colored vest rested in contrast to his crisp white shirt, and the ensemble was completed by a coordinating paisley tie. Olivia's breath caught as her eyes roamed appreciatively up and down his body, coming to rest at his hands, within which he was holding a bouquet of flowers. "Hey," he replied shyly. "Uh… these are for you." He held them out towards her, his smile hesitant, but heartwarming.
"Thank you, come on in."
Elliot crossed the threshold of her apartment and took a moment to do an appraisal of his own. "Liv…you look…stunning."
Olivia ducked her head to hide the crimson that she knew was making its way up her cheeks, and made a move toward the kitchen to grab a vase for the flowers. "Thanks. You're not so bad yourself. Do you want a drink before we head out?"
"No thank you. I made a reservation for 7:30, so we should probably get going if we want to make it there in time."
"Okay. Where are we going?" Olivia asked as she placed the flowers on the dining table.
"Nice try, but you're going to have to wait to find out. You were in charge of planning our day, now it's my turn to plan our evening."
A glance over at Elliot had her temperature rising again. She had no idea how they had managed not to cross any lines during their partnership, because if given the chance, she was ready to sprint across that line like an Olympic runner competing for a gold medal. Feeling a little emboldened, she ambled towards him and placed her hand on the knot of his tie, smoothing it down his chest. "Oh yeah? And what exactly do you have planned for our evening?"
A flush came to Elliot's face, but he composed himself enough to take a step away from Olivia, grabbing her hand from his chest and holding onto it as he looked into her eyes. "You'll see. All in good time. Now let's get out of here before we miss our reservation."
~oOo~
Olivia was surprised to find out that their dinner reservation was at the new Italian restaurant that she had been dying to go to. "Elliot, how did you get a reservation here? It's impossible even when you plan in advance!"
He offered his elbow and smiled as she curled her arm through his and leaned in towards his side. They walked in unison and in such proximity that it was almost as if they were one person. "Let's just say that I know some people, and was able to pull some strings. You like it?"
"Like it? I love it!"
After giving his name to the maitre d, they were led to a table near one of the corners of the room. The tables were elegantly set, with maroon cloths dressed with a cream-colored overlay. A single flower in a vase perched next to a tealight lamp, giving each dining space a subtle glow within the dimly lit restaurant. As they approached their table, Elliot moved ahead of Olivia to pull out her chair for her. "Such a gentleman," she said as he took his seat across from her.
"What can I say? You bring out the best in me."
Just as Olivia was about to respond, the waiter came to take their drink order. Elliot ordered a bottle of Olivia's favorite Cabernet. They settled into a comfortable silence, and both took a moment to soak in the atmosphere. They had eaten dinner together countless times during their years as partners, but this was unreservedly different. Their typical push-and-pull dynamic had become more heated. There was a persistent nervous excitement that laced the air between them, and it had each of them feeling just a bit unsure about what to do about it. At the same time, their ease and stability within each other's presence brought with it a certain effortlessness in their interactions. As they barreled toward whatever this was going to be, it was almost as if they were on autopilot, their hearts expressing the feelings that their brains had been trained to push beneath the surface.
Taking a deep breath, Olivia sighed. "This is really beautiful, Elliot. Thank you for bringing me here."
Reaching across the table to take her hand in his, Elliot gently rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. "We had such an amazing day together, I wanted to make sure it ended perfectly."
"Hey, El?"
"Yeah?"
"What are we doing? I mean…what is this right now?" Olivia asked, nodding her head towards their conjoined hands.
"I don't really think we need to define it, do you?"
"I guess not…it's just…"
"How about we call it a partnership, how's that for now…one that started with two friends who enjoy being around each other, and who care a lot about each other, and who are always there for one another, for better or worse…"
"I think I've heard that last part before," Olivia replied with a wink.
"Really?" He grinned. "I…"
Elliot was interrupted by the waiter, who had returned to their table with their bottle of wine. As he reached across to grab Elliot's wine glass, he accidentally knocked into his water glass, sending a flood of ice-cold liquid onto Elliot's lap. Elliot gasped and pulled back from the table.
The waiter looked mortified as he abruptly leaned over to give Elliot the cloth that had been folded across his arm. "Oh my God, Sir. I am so sorry! I don't know how that happened. I…"
"It's okay, it was an accident." Elliot's voice was tense, and Olivia's eyes widened as the veins bulged in his neck. She could tell that he was furious, but he was doing his best to keep it together.
"Here, El. Here's my napkin." He took it from her as he tried in vain to dry his pants.
"I'll be right back. I'm going to go to the bathroom to see if I can dry off a little. Maybe they have a hand dryer in there."
Olivia watched as Elliot disappeared toward the bathroom, giggling to herself as her mind conjured up images of Elliot waving himself in front of the hand blower in an effort to dry his pants. She did her best to offer a comforting smile to the waiter, who was beside himself trying to reset their table. Once everything had been cleared, he went to grab Olivia's wine glass, but she stopped him. "You know what? Why don't you just leave the bottle? I think we'll take care of pouring it ourselves."
"Of course, Ma'am. I'm really sorry." The waiter continued to look at her apologetically as he left her alone at the table. Olivia was pouring the two glasses of wine when she heard a familiar voice.
"Olivia," he said, "is that you?"
A look of utter surprise crossed Olivia's face as Trevor Langan approached her table.
"Trevor…Hi. I d…didn't expect to see you here…" she stuttered a little.
"I'm here meeting a client. How about you?"
"Oh…I'm just here with…" she swallowed audibly, "a friend. For dinner."
"I'd say that your friend is pretty lucky. You look absolutely ravishing this evening."
"Thank you." Olivia wished that she could crawl into a hole somewhere. Trevor had been burning up her phone ever since the charity event that she had accompanied him to for the adoption fundraiser. Up until then, their relationship had been purely platonic, but she had gotten the sense that evening that he had been hoping for something more. He was a really nice guy, and she had been incredibly thankful for everything he had done for her when she adopted Noah, but there just wasn't any spark between them.
"I'm sorry it took me so long, my pants were saturated, so they took a while to dry…" Elliot stopped abruptly when he noticed Trevor standing next to Olivia, who was still seated. "Langan?"
"Trevor," Olivia said, her voice suddenly more high-pitched than she had expected it to be, "I'm sure you remember Elliot."
"Of course…How are you doing, Stabler?" he asked as he reluctantly reached his hand towards Elliot in greeting.
"I'm good," Elliot responded tersely, his jaw twitching ever so slightly as he looked upon the attorney with daggers suitable enough to cause his death. Elliot took his seat across from Olivia, never dropping eye contact with Trevor. The tension in the air was thick, like three sets of eyes in a shootout, each one was waiting to see who would take the first shot.
"That's good," Trevor cut the silence. "Hey, Liv, I've been trying to reach you since that night of the fundraiser we went to together. Did you get my messages?" Shots fired, and Langan was going for blood.
"Um…" Olivia's eyes shot quickly to Elliot, who was so enraged, she swore she could see steam coming off of him as he clenched his fists on the table. "Yes, I'm sorry. I did get the messages, I've just been…busy lately."
"Oh," he said curtly, his eyes roaming back and forth between the two former partners.
"That's right, Liv," Elliot replied, "you've been incredibly busy lately. Keeping rapists and child abusers off the streets doesn't leave you much time for anything else. But I guess Trevor here would know that, right? Seeing as how he spends all his time defending them, huh?" He leaned back in his chair, puffing his chest just a bit as he nodded over at Lagan.
"El…"
"Wow." Olivia and Trevor spoke at the same time.
Trevor turned his back on Elliot and focused his attention on Olivia. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt your dinner with your…friend. I'll let you get back to it. You have my number if you want to go out again."
Olivia opened her mouth to respond, but it was Elliot's voice that spoke first. "Yeah. We all do," he said with a smirk as he watched Trevor back away from the table.
Olivia looked across the table, a stern expression on her face. "Was that really necessary, Elliot?"
"You never told me you went out with Langan."
"You never asked."
"I didn't think I had to ask about you spending time with crooked defense attorneys."
"It's not like that, we're just friends."
"For now?"
"Elliot, don't be ridiculous!"
"What?" Elliot shrugged his shoulders in an attempt at feigning innocence.
"You have no reason to be jealous of Trevor Langan!" Olivia responded, her volume increasing as she became more frustrated.
"And why is that?"
"Because I'm not attracted to him!" Olivia practically shouted. She shuffled in her seat, looking around to make sure she hadn't caused a scene.
Elliot crossed his forearms on the table and leaned over towards Olivia, a glint of mischief sparkling in his eyes. "Are you attracted to me?"
Olivia rolled her eyes. "Seriously?"
"Yes, seriously."
"I'm not answering that."
"Then I guess I'll just have to assume that the answer is yes. Would it make it better if I told you that I was attracted to you?"
Olivia's face flushed, and she tried to avoid Elliot's eyes, which were two cerulean pools that seemed to be staring into her soul. She fidgeted with her fingers, which were clasped in front of her on the table, and then reached towards her wine glass. It was apparent that she was going to need a bit of liquid courage if she was going to survive this evening. She leaned towards Elliot, and said, "I…"
Before she could utter another word, blaring sirens started going off in the restaurant. They both jumped in response and held their hands over their ears while looking around to determine what was going on. The maitre d raised his voice in an effort to be heard above the deafening noise of the alarms. "Excuse me," he yelled, " I need everyone's attention, and please remain calm. We need everyone to evacuate the restaurant, due to a kitchen fire."
"Oh come on!" Elliot threw his arms up in disbelief. "Do we ever get a night off?"
"Obviously not," Olivia responded as they both went into work mode. Moving perfectly in tandem, they identified themselves as NYPD police officers and assisted the restaurant staff in evacuating the building.
Once everyone was safely outside, and the fire department and local police were on the scene, Elliot looked towards Olivia, once again offering her his arm like he had done earlier in the evening. "What do you say we get out of here?"
"That sounds like a great idea."
They were halfway to Elliot's car when suddenly, Olivia stumbled. Elliot reached his arms around her waist and managed to pull her against him before she fell to the ground. "Liv," he shouted with concern, "are you okay?"
Olivia found her body fully aligned against the front of Elliot's after he had caught her. She also found that she lacked the ability to breathe, as even automatic responses failed her when she was this close to him. "I'm fine… thanks to you. I don't know how you caught me."
He pulled her away from him just enough to be able to look up and down her body to confirm that she didn't have any injuries. "What happened, did you trip over something? Was it your ankle?"
"No, it's my shoes! My heel broke right off!" she said, removing the shoe and holding it up to him.
"Well, you're not going to be able to walk to the car like that," Elliot confirmed, taking the broken heel in his hand and inspecting the damage. "I'll carry you."
"Don't be ridiculous, you can not carry me to the car," Olivia protested, suddenly embarrassed.
"You can't walk barefoot through the streets of New York. Come on, you can hop on my back." Without warning, he bent down in front of her, angling his backside towards her, and encouraging her to climb on.
"Come on, El, there has got to be another way to do this. I'm too heavy!"
"Olivia, stop. Now just hold on." She yelped as he grabbed her by the backs of her thighs and pulled her up against his rear, taking special care to hold her dress down so that she wouldn't be exposed. He lifted her as though she were a feather, and she reluctantly wrapped her arms around his shoulders and clasped them together in front of his neck. "You okay?"
Okay?! She was most definitely not okay! "Yes, I'm fine." Her lips had opened on their own accord and had betrayed her. Her skin tingled in every place that Elliot was touching her, and the scent of him was intoxicating. He was a drug, and she was hopelessly addicted.
When they got to the car, he placed her gently into the passenger seat. Her body ached at the loss of his warmth even after just a second. Never in her life had she felt such an intrinsic need for the touch of someone else, and it frightened her. Elliot walked around the SUV and got in the driver's seat. Without even a thought, he reached across the center console and held her hand within his. He pulled out of the parking spot and headed in the direction of her apartment.
As they sat in silence in the car, Olivia's stomach made its presence known by rumbling loudly. Elliot laughed and asked, "Are you hungry?"
Olivia smiled. "Yeah, I am actually. We never quite made it to the dinner part of our reservation."
"I'm hungry too. And I think I have an idea on how to fix that."
~oOo~
The first stop Elliot made was to a shoe store, where he quickly ran in and purchased a pair of flip-flops for Olivia. Their next stop was to find parking near Central Park.
"I thought you said we were going to get food," Olivia said as Elliot exited the vehicle and came around to open her door for her.
"We are!" he said, reaching for her hand to help her out.
"Okay…"
They walked for a few minutes before coming across a corner hot dog stand. "Here we are!" Elliot reached into his pocket to grab his wallet. "Two hot dogs, please. One with extra relish," he said and smiled at her. Elliot took the hot dogs from the cart owner and they walked along, side by side.
"I think we might be a little overdressed for this meal," Olivia said playfully.
"True. Tastes good though." They continued down the path and stopped at a bench where they sat down to enjoy their hot dogs.
"Hey, El?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you think the universe is trying to tell us something?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
"Well…I'd say we had quite a few things go wrong during our first attempt at…whatever this was."
"I'd call it a date," he answered nonchalantly.
"Okay….We had a lot of things go wrong for a first date, don't you think? I mean, I would say that a restaurant catching fire and having to be evacuated is a pretty big sign, don't you?"
"I agree."
"You do?" Olivia asked, surprised that Elliot had so readily agreed with her.
"I do…but probably not in the way you think."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Are you having a good time, sitting here with me and enjoying this finely crafted, genuine New York City hot dog?"
Olivia smiled instantly and nodded her head yes. "I always have a good time when we're together."
"Me too! The thing is, while the restaurant that we went to was lavish, and beautiful, and was probably amazing, at the end of the day, it just wasn't…us. You asked if I thought the universe was trying to tell us something, and I think that it is. We don't need fancy restaurants or expensive bottles of wine to be together. All we really need is you and I."
Olivia looked up at Elliot, the intensity and sincerity in his eyes was overwhelming to her. "I…I guess that's all we've ever really needed."
Elliot reached over and cupped his hand on Olivia's cheek, his thumb sliding gently over her cheekbone. She held her breath as he leaned towards her. She shut her eyes in anticipation as he closed the distance between them, and was surprised when she felt the brush of his warm lips on her forehead. She pulled back to glance at him, a look of confusion crossing her features. "Hey."
"What?" he responded.
"I think you missed."
"Liv, I…" Without hesitation, she placed her hands around the back of Elliot's head, pulling him towards her. Their lips met, first as a whisper, and then as an ignition of a flame. In that moment, time was suspended, and all either of them could focus on were the feelings surrounding both the physical and emotional bond that they had waited a lifetime to form. They devoured one another, as though their very sustenance depended upon this fusion of lips and hearts and minds. It was the need for air that finally separated them, as they pulled away from each other just enough to be able to catch their breath. They rested their foreheads against one another, remained with their noses touching, and chests heaving as they basked in the feeling of their fluid synchronicity.
"I always wondered what it would be like to kiss you."
"Me too. Maybe we should try it again, just to make sure we remember it," he responded with a smirk.
"I think we need to get out of here, maybe head back to my place?"
"I'm on board with your plan, but why the rush?"
Olivia rose from the bench with a smile and pulled him by the hand to follow her. "I don't want the universe sending us any more messages. With our luck, we'll be mauled by dogs next."
Laughing affectionately, Elliot pulled her into an embrace. "Liv, with all of the obstacles that we have overcome to get to this point, the universe could probably send a zombie apocalypse and I'd still bet on us."