O2 6/18
Chapter Five:
After a few hours, Don sent Charlie for food and they shared some of their favorite Olivia stories. She had hated people pronouncing her name wrong but inevitably, Don had won her over not just by pronouncing it with an O sound instead of Ah from the beginning, but by nicknaming her O just to make the point stronger. She hated the nickname Libby so O was just the thing for her. Charlie ended up starting to call her O as well since that's all Don ever called her. Eventually the nickname spread to her friends but deep down Don always considered it his private pet name for her.
Neither man had kept in touch with her after she left for England. Charlie was immersed in his own academic pursuits and Don was simply hurt that he'd lost his girlfriend to the U.K. A hundred miles away would have been worth driving for a long distance relationship. Across an ocean was another story.
After lunch, Charlie left to teach his afternoon class and Don felt strangely relieved to have Olivia to himself again. Some part of him was envious of the side of Olivia that only Charlie could understand. The side of her that drove her to study in England rather than just down the road at Cal Sci. The straight A student who spouted physics terms like other teens talked about boy bands and movie stars.
Olivia had never made Don feel stupid though. She had somehow figured out that Don's strengths were elsewhere and she always made him feel smart and talented even next to Charlie. One of the things he loved most about Olivia was how he felt when he was around her.
Don sat in the chair Charlie had vacated and took the hand of his former love.
"Hey, O. It's me, Don Eppes." She didn't stir but Don believed she could hear him regardless.
"It's been twenty years. Man, you look fantastic. You should see me... I'm..." Don suddenly had trouble continuing.
"O, I'm sorry I never talked to you after you left. I guess my ego was too bruised to stay friends with you and I regret that, now especially. You obviously found a good man and married him. I'm just sorry to hear that he widowed you so young. That must have been really hard for you. I wish I'd known. I moved back to L.A. not long after Brian died. Perhaps..." Don shook his head. "No, I was engaged to someone myself. Someone I met working at the FBI. Someone I loved but... Sometimes things just don't work out the way you plan them, you know? I was so sure you and I were solid, then you tell me you're moving to England of all places. I tell Kim, she was my fiancée, that I have to move back to L.A. because of my family and she... I guess I thought she would move to L.A. with me, you know? I mean if you say yes to marry someone doesn't that mean you want to be with them no matter what? Not that you'll only be with them if they stay within certain geographical boundaries?" Don paused, trying not to get choked up. "I just wish you could talk to me, O. It would be so good to hear your voice again."
Don gave her hand a tight squeeze and looked away, waiting for the tears that had welled up in his eyes to dissipate.
He finally let her hand go and laid it down on the bed next to his arm. As soon as he did though, he missed the contact and took her hand again.
He opened the magazine he had propped up on her bed and tried to read to distract himself from all the painful memories rising up from the back of his mind.
A motion startled him and he looked up to see Olivia's fingers moving slightly.
"O?" Don whispered, hoping beyond hope she was coming back, more for his sake than the DAG's at this point.
Her eyes never opened and her body, save for one hand, never moved. The hand lifted and dropped slightly a number of times then stopped. It started up again and Don quickly recognized a pattern to it.
Because the movements were so delicate, Don laid Olivia's hand on his arm so he could feel what she was doing in addition to seeing what she was doing. Apparently, she noticed the change and started to alternately grasp his arm and tap on it.
Don recorded the sequence and checked it as she redid it four times more.
Tap with four fingers Holds hand curved like a C and taps once with the whole hand Tap with one finger Tap with one finger Grasp Tap with two fingers Grasp Tap with three fingers Grasp Tap with four fingers
Don figured that grasping must be her way of telling him she meant all five fingers so he wrote the sequence in shorthand: 4 C 1 1 5 2 5 3 5 4
When her hands finally came to a rest and she didn't move again, Don called Charlie.