Chapter 5
"Tell me about what?" Olivia said from where she lounged in the doorway. "Who's on the phone?"
Elliot looked up, startled to see his partner standing in the open doorway still in her pajamas and a bit disheveled. "Uh. Dad," he managed to stutter.
"Uh oh. How mad is he that we didn't get back last night?"
"A bit. Seems we didn't do something before going to be...a...to sleep." The words got garbled in his brain as he looked at her. Damn, she's even beautiful when first waking up. He could hear Cragen chuckling in his ear and that got him back on track. "Liv, neither of us called the Captain. We got busted."
"Sorry, 'Cap," said Olivia loudly. She turned to walk away. "I'm going to make breakfast. Get your ass out of bed. It's almost 9:30."
"Uh oh, 'Cap. I think I have a major problem. Olivia wants to cook."
The now standard "Shut up, Elliot" could be heard clearly by both Elliot and Cragen. "Better get this all cleared up, Elliot. She just might poison you and we'll never know if it was intentional or not."
Elliot chuckled. "Will do, Captain. Our cells are dead up here, but I think since we're stuck here I'm going to convince Olivia to do some cross-country skiing. This place is that well-stocked."
"Just don't get injured or turn your back on her. And talk. I don't want all this stress on you two when you return with Lake tomorrow."
"Yes, sir. Talk with you later. I better get downstairs before I smell smoke."
"Call if you need anything, Elliot."
"Thanks, Captain." Elliot leaned over and hung up the phone. Throwing back the covers he walked to the bathroom to relieve himself and brush his teeth. It's Saturday so to hell with shaving. God knows Liv has seen me look worse, he thought. Considering that Olivia had gone downstairs in her pajamas, he just pulled on a tank shirt and padded down the steps in bare feet.
He stopped when he came off the last step and made the turn. Hanging on to the newel post, he stood and watched what he thought was a beautiful sight. His partner had obviously found the controls to the sound system in the house and had selected a soft, jazzy instrumental as an accompaniment to making breakfast. And from what he could see, it looked like pancakes.
"Elliot," Olivia called without turning around. "Coffee's about ready if you want some. You won't believe it but there's an entire selection of fine coffees." She turned to look at him where he still stood, looking stunned, and smiled. "El-li-ot," said in a singsong type of voice. "There is French Roast brewing if you'd care to walk that ass of yours over here."
"Huh," he said, coming out of his stupor. "Oh, yeah. So, partner, you're cooking and I don't see a recipe anywhere. Don't tell me you actually do cook," he teased slightly.
"Why do you guys always pick on me about cooking? Why wouldn't I know how to cook? I'm single and I have to eat. Wouldn't that make you think that I could actually cook? Besides, these are just pancakes. That recipe is easy. I make up a batch of these and then freeze them. Makes breakfast easy when I want pancakes." She shrugged at his seemingly mystified look. "Sheesh, Elliot, snap out of it. I am not a Martian. Here." She shoved a mug of coffee into his hand. "You obviously need this more than I do." Olivia turned back to the griddle she was heating. "Were you afraid of your razor this morning?" she questioned as she lightly sprinkled water on the griddle to check its readiness. "I'm guessing that Chief Gilson should be here in an hour or so, so you better plan on making friends with it soon."
Hearing Gilson's name snapped him out of his very inappropriate daydream. I have got to stop this or I will drive myself insane. "Liv, that's what the phone call was about. Gilson called before I spoke to Cragen. The DA is stuck in Boston. He'll be in by late tonight, but we're here for the day."
Olivia turned around to look at him as he lounged against the edge of the granite counter. "Say what? Not until tonight? Crap, Elliot. What are you going to do?"
"Do? I'm planning on having breakfast with you, and then I thought we could go find those skis."
She smirked at him. "First of all, I'm guessing you haven't looked out that really big bank of windows over there." He looked over his shoulder and his expression dropped. The snow was still coming down heavily. Sighing, he turned back to Olivia. "And secondly?" he asked.
"Secondly. What about Kathy? You need to call her and let her know what's going on. She's going to go off her rocker at you." She turned back to the stove and lifted off the four pancakes she'd previously flipped. Pouring out more batter, she turned back around to ask Elliot again because he had not responded to her question. But he was gone, and only the coffee mug remained.
Looking across the counter towards the great room, she saw him standing at the window bank looking out at the snow. Figuring that she must have touched a nerve, she decided to finish off the pancakes. She covered the completed ones with a lid to keep them warm and watched the next batch. After flipping them, she grabbed two plates out of the cabinet and placed them on the mats at the end of the counter. Searching through the refrigerator, she smiled when she happened across a container of blueberries. While she didn't care for them, she knew that Elliot loved them, as he had the tendency to bring a small container of them when they were on long stakeouts. Taking the last of the pancake batter and forming four more thick flapjacks, she filled the centers of them with the majority of the small blueberries.
Setting out glasses of orange juice, she looked up to check on Elliot and found him in the same spot but now leaning his forehead against the glass with his arms outstretched to brace against the frames. Sighing, she turned back to the stove to lift off the last pancakes. After placing them under the cover with the rest, she took a deep breath and prepared for battle. Wish we could have at least eaten first, she mused as she quietly headed into the great room. Coming up on Elliot's left side, she leaned her shoulder against the next window and just looked at him. Anger, despair, and what appeared to be hopelessness all battled for an area of his face. He wouldn't look at her; just kept his eyes forward as if something out on the deck or even a thousand yards further had his deep attention. Olivia guessed that something must have happened during one of the two phone calls home that she knew of from the day before. Gathering her own courage, she stepped into the fray. "Talk to me, Elliot," she said quietly. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye but quickly returned his gaze to the outside. "Listen, being up here is entirely my fault. I'm guessing that Kathy is even more upset after the second call yesterday. Let me talk to her and apologize to her. And I'm sorry I sprung this on you at the last minute."
Letting out the breath he had unintentionally been holding, Elliot said, "None of this is your fault, Liv. Remember that, okay?" Olivia just nodded. He looked over at her. "Kathy told me not to bother coming home today."
Olivia's sharp intake of air sounded her complete surprise. "El—"
"Don't," he stopped her. "It is not your fault. Cragen told me how you asked for the two of us to come up here. That was you being my partner. If you had acted yesterday like I had, don't you think I would have done the same thing?"
She crossed her arms and looked down. "Probably. But you would have dragged all of the crap I was feeling out of me before we left so we could have kind of enjoyed this little jaunt." She stopped and looked up at him. "But that's not the point, El. I don't have a husband at home that is frustrated with my job or is uncomfortable with my partner."
"Exactly. That part is not your problem. You did what you thought best to help your partner. Me being the dumber of us at that time insulted you. Not an intentional insult, but one due to my being protective of my partner." He dropped his arms and stood straight at the window. Turning to mirror her stance, right shoulder on the window, he reached out and placed his large hand on her shoulder. His thumb lightly traced the outline of her pulse, which he could see beating strongly. "Come here," he said quietly, tugging her to him gently so he could put an arm around her and they could both look out the window. She slipped an arm around his waist as he said, "Kathy also followed through on a promise of hers from the call last night. She boxed up all my clothes and sent them to the station." Olivia startled and tried to back out from under his arm, but he held fast. "Don't," he said.
Olivia took a deep breath and turned into him, wrapping her other arm around his waist to complete the hug. "I'm sorry," she whispered into his shoulder. "What are you going to do?"
"Don't know, Liv. My biggest concern is the kids. I wonder what she told them when she had the boxes hauled out. Maureen is tutoring today so I was thinking about calling her a bit later. As for Kathy, there's nothing I can do from here. Things haven't been good lately and even the counseling sessions at the church haven't helped us pull together as much as either of us thought they would." Olivia flinched at the mention of counseling; she didn't know that they'd been going to something like that. Now she felt even worse. Elliot hugged her tightly and said, "Will you cut it out? Nothing in my failed marriage has ever been your fault and I will not let you think otherwise."
Looking down at her, he could see a pair of deep brown eyes beginning to tear up. "Hey, none of that. You don't see me being a water factory yet, do you?" He used a thumb to gently remove the tears and stroke over the rise of her cheek.
"I can't help but feel that I'm part of the cause behind this, Elliot," she said.
"Nope. Believe me, I've been quite capable of screwing this up all on my own." He chuckled and tipped her chin up to look straight at her. "Are you sure you're not Catholic? You've got this automatic guilt syndrome down pat. I could always recommend you to my parish if you're interested. Father Michael would be overjoyed at the prospect of such an easily guilt-ridden parishioner."
"No. No thank you. I had enough of that at college. You forget, Siena is Catholic-sponsored." She turned her face back into his shoulder and took in his natural body scent. As wrong as it was to think about this, she felt as if she could stand there forever. They stood quietly for a couple of minutes, and then they both heard the noise. Again, it rumbled. Chuckling, they both looked up at each other. "Uh oh," laughed Elliot. "I don't know if that was you or me."
Deciding that enough on this subject had been covered for the time being, she smiled at him and said, "I think it was both of us. Come on, let me finish the bacon and we can reheat the pancakes and eat. There's even a treat under that plate cover for you."
"Hmm, wonder what that could be," said Elliot, keeping one arm around her waist when they turned from the windows and walked back to the kitchen. Olivia restarted the flame under the griddle section and watched Elliot peek under the plate cover. "Blueberries!" he exclaimed. "Oh, this is great! Thanks. I know you don't like them."
"Exactly," she said as she started laying the bacon on the griddle and cracking three eggs next to the strips. "Better you having them than I. I'm going to splurge as it is with all this grease. You'll probably just find me crashed on the couch in front of the fire for the rest of the day."
"Whatever you want to do, Liv. I'm game. If it ever quits snowing, though, I'd like to find those skis and see if they have any gear that'll fit us."
"Okay. I checked the weather channel and it should be dying off mid-afternoon. Would you plate those pancakes and microwave them for a minute? Then the eggs and bacon will be ready and we'll be set. Do you want more coffee?"
"Yeah. Stay put, I've got it," he said after popping the plate into the microwave. He grabbed both of their mugs and refilled them. Setting them down at the place settings, he walked back to the refrigerator and rummaged around until he located the maple syrup. "Any idea where a small container would be to warm this up?" he asked as he held up the syrup bottle.
She turned around and pointed to one of the cabinets. "Check in there above the glasses. I think I saw a small glass pitcher that would work." Taking the first plate from the microwave, she dished up the pancakes and set them on the placemats. Plating the eggs and bacon, she moved everything else to the counter. Over her shoulder she saw Elliot remove the syrup from the microwave and walk to the counter.
"I guess breakfast is served. Help yourself," she said as she slid into the chair. Elliot sat down and grabbed the stereo remote. "Music on or off?" he asked.
"On. Just turn it down a bit."
Having made the unintentional decision to stay away from the subject of his marriage for the time being, idle chitchat kept them busy in between bites. Subjects ranged from the last time either one of them had been skiing—downhill or cross-country—to other open cases that they were still investigating. Elliot told Olivia of his phone call with Cragen and that they weren't in too much trouble. He'd just been concerned because it was unlike them to forget to check in. They chuckled over Cragen's comment about her intentionally or unintentionally poisoning Elliot. Olivia decided that maybe she should do some baking and just leave the goods on the middle of Cragen's desk. That set Elliot off into laughter as he pictured their captain totally confused and slightly cautious as he checked out the contents. After breakfast, they both cleaned up the little mess that had been made while making breakfast and set another pot of coffee to brew.
"Elliot, I'm going to go have a shower and get changed. What are your plans...besides locating a razor?" She grinned at him.
"No. It's Saturday. I am not shaving. A shower and then I thought I'd poke around the house a bit. My room has a large LCD screen so I'm guessing there's another around here somewhere. That can't be the only television in the house."
"Television? There's a large one in the master with plenty of DVDs, but I'm guessing you're looking for ESPN or something." They both stood and walked to the stairs, continuing to talk.
"Hmmm. An all sports day. There's a thought." Not a bad idea. Not like I ever really get to do that at home. And then thought hit him. And never will. Olivia was on the fifth riser before she realized that Elliot wasn't behind her. Looking back at him, she saw that the haunted look had returned to his face and that he had stopped on the bottom step. Walking back down the few steps she had gained, she stood in front of him, literally bringing them eye to eye.
I'm not going to let him go there, she thought. "Elliot," she said softly as she raised her left hand to his cheek. He startled and immediately tried to hide his expression. "Don't," she said as she continued to cup his cheek, her thumb moving over the morning stubble. "Don't hide from me. Whatever you need to get through this, I'm here. There are no big decisions to be made today. Consider us escaped. This is our day to do what we want. Lounge around, ski, talk...whatever. Just don't hide from me. Okay?" He nodded. With that she leaned forward and returned his kiss on the cheek from the previous night. "Tell you what," she grinned. "Skip the razor; I kind of like this." She dropped her hand from his cheek and reached for his hand, turning at the same time and walking back up the stairs.
Elliot finally recovered as they reached the landing. "I didn't shave because I figured it would annoy you, Liv."
She grinned cheekily as she let go of his hand and patted him on the cheek. "I know, El. Ever heard of reverse psychology?" She turned on her heel and walked to her room without looking back, knowing that he'd still be standing there with a small grin on his face. That's better, she thought. We need to laugh more often. I don't care how bad the situation is.
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