Influenza
Chapter Sixteen
Disclaimer: Not my show, not my characters. In all likelihood, they never will be. I do not make any profit from this fiction, unless you want to factor in all the awesome reviews that I get. Other than those, I don't get anything from this except amusement. I only wish I got paid for this.
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When she arrived at work the next morning his desk was empty, but she wasn't worried about why he wasn't there. It was still early, and he had at least half an hour before he was expected to clock in. She had merely come early because there was nothing else for her to do, which was something she did often. Then again, he had begun to do the very same, now that he was divorced and living alone-- for the most part.
Which reminded her that it was Tuesday, and that Elliot had the kids every Tuesday and Thursday, along with every other weekend. Was the dinner he had previously mentioned going to be that night? She made a mental note to ask him about that topic and began on a new stack of paperwork, getting as much of it done as she could before her court date in three and a half hours.
Glancing to her left she briefly wondered where Fin and Munch were. Both of them were most always at work before she arrived, and on few occasions one was there while the other wasn't. However, since Munch had no car and Fin lived only a few minutes away from the man, the older was normally forced to leave as early as his partner did, unless he wasn't feeling greedy and hailed a cab. This morning, though, neither was there.
Her confusion was short-lived, cut off when Munch strolled into the station house, a trey of coffee's in his hands, followed by Fin, who had a grease-stained bag. "What do you have in that thing?" Olivia wanted to know, a disgusted look passing over her face briefly. All of that would clog his arteries one day... if it hadn't already.
"Donuts," the man stated simply. "Not Krispy Kreme, but you can't always have luxury."
She snorted, slightly amused by the predictability of the whole situation. Cops, donuts, and Starbucks. Wasn't this just a bad joke waiting to happen?
"Do you want one?" he questioned, sitting at his desk and reaching across for a cup of coffee. "We got plenty."
"No thank you," she declined, raising her right hand in the air slightly, as a gesture of her feelings. "I try to stay away from fried dough as much as possible... I already ate, anyway."
"Let me guess," the man replied, "cereal?"
Olivia shook her head with a slight grin, "Toast."
"Oh," the man chastised, "that's a great breakfast."
She crooked an eyebrow at him, "And donuts is just a much better choice?"
"Hell yes." Fin stated with a grin. "But if you don't want any... that means more for me."
"More what?" Elliot announced, coming up behind Fin and trying to peak into the bag. The man took hold of the small sack and moved it from Elliot's reach, turning around to look at him.
"More of my breakfast. You can't have any."
"You asked me if I wanted some," Olivia reminded him, smiling at the cute frown that had manifested on Elliot's face. He didn't even know what was in the bag yet, although she knew he had a unhealthy love for donuts as well. Men...
"Yeah," Fin replied, stretching out the word, "but you're female."
"So what?" she questioned. "You offer donuts to me in hopes that my hips will expand or something? I'm not going anywhere near the things."
"They're donuts?" Elliot questioned, practically salivating. "Come on Fin, I only had toast for breakfast," he spit out the word, as if it were the worst food on the planet. "At least let me have one..."
Olivia snorted again, amused once more. Fin and Munch both shot glances at her, smiles on their faces. "What?" she asked, "I never said it was anything wonderful."
"But it's better than donuts?"
"Hell yes," she said, repeating Fin's earlier words. Elliot just looked around, not aware of the joke and what exactly was going on. Cutting his losses, he figured he'd sneak a left-over when Fin had finished with the bag. It was a pretty good size, anyway, and the man surely wasn't planning on eating all of them.
"That coffee for us?" he questioned, looking at Munch, who still had the trey of coffee's in front of him. There were two left in the four-carrier and it was only natural to assume that they had gotten the extra for their friends.
He shrugged, "If you want some."
Like either one of them would ever turn down coffee... Starbucks, as a matter of fact. That was outlandish. While Olivia didn't follow the expectations with donuts, she certainly was a coffee fiend. It was hard to find a coffee she could say no to-- not that it was impossible though. She surely stayed away from anything Munch himself created, but that was no surprise, since just about everybody steered clear of Munch-made coffee.
"You two have a case to go to today, right?" Fin asked, stuffing half of a glazed-donut into his mouth. Elliot shot him a dirty look, but nodded no less.
"At eleven," he told him. "Rape-homicide from nearly a year ago. Paul Newman."
"What's Casey going for again?" Munch questioned, taking the opportunity to pull two donuts out of the bag while Fin was looking elsewhere. He motioned for Elliot to get one and began to eat the other. Elliot grinned and got out of his seat before the other man knew what was going on, and Olivia took the time to reply.
"First degree for both charges. He stalked the victim for months before he raped her and the murder was a separate incident." She twirled around once in her chair, not at all disappointed about being bored at work-- it meant, in fact, that there was no need for a sex police at the moment, and that could never be a bad thing, in context. "Our case is strong, he'll be a lifer."
"Not going for the needle?"
Olivia shrugged, "She is, but it's not likely that he'll get it, and even if he does, he'll die on death-row in about fifty years." She wasn't exactly thrilled with the system, but as long as it got the sadistic freak off of the streets, she didn't give a damn where he ended up, or how long he was there before he was either gotten rid of or died naturally. She would prefer the prior, but either way, he would still be in prison. "We'll win, there's no way the jury can deny the evidence."
"Hopefully," Munch stated, causing Olivia to frown. Not at his negativity, but at the possibility that he was bringing up. The system wasn't perfect, she knew that all to well, and there was still a chance that Newman would get off free. She sighed, taking a sip of her warm coffee, then headed back to her small stack of paperwork.
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Elliot looked at his watch and cursed slightly, it was already fifteen after ten. "We've got to get going, Liv."
"Yeah," she had just glanced at a clock, as well, and had already begun to rise. "You got your files?"
He nodded, grabbing a stack of files from his desk and then pulling his keys out of his pocket. "Call Casey, tell her that we're on our way to the court house."
Olivia followed him out of the station house and towards his car, pulling out her cell phone and dialing the ADA's own cell. The woman picked up on the second ring and Olivia filled her in, they were leaving work and should arrive in ten minutes or so. Casey seemed calm, then again, she normally always did, so Olivia wasn't surprised. After reminding her that they had just over half an hour to be there and waiting she hung up, presumably to get started on her last minute trial preparations.
The two then got into the car and Elliot took off in the general direction of the court house. They rode in relative silence for the first minute or so before Olivia started up a conversation, voicing her earlier thoughts about the planned dinner. "The dinner date you were telling me about yesterday," she said, looking over at him as he drove, "when is that going to be?"
"Why? Got other plans?"
She shrugged, "I don't know-- you tell me." Her smile was suggesting and he couldn't help but grin in response.
"I'm not sure, actually. They kids are coming over tonight, but I doubt they'll have time to cook. Kathleen has soccer and Elizabeth just started on the swim team, so she's got practice, too. Dickey doesn't have football until tomorrow, though, and I don't think any of them have things planned for Thursday..."
"Are they coming over then?"
"As far as I know they are," he replied. "So, we'll probably do it then, I guess."
With a nod she turned to face the road once more, watching the tourists on the streets as they passed. "Have you told them?"
He shook his head, laughing slightly, "Our first date was last night-- and I certainly wasn't going to call them after..." he trailed off. "I had to shower when I got home anyway."
Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she cursed herself for the reaction. "When do you plan on telling them, then?"
"I was thinking maybe we could on Thursday, if you come over for dinner, that is."
"...You want me to be there?" she questioned, a bit surprised by the implication.
"Of course," he replied, surprised that she was surprised.
"But, what if they don't like the idea?"
"Then they're going have to get over it," he said simply, shrugging. "There's no way that I am going to let you go."
She could feel her cheeks getting hotter, and she knew that they were no longer just slightly pink. "What about Kathy?"
"Kathy knows already..." he paused for a moment. "Well, she doesn't know know, but we've already talked about the possibility of a relationship between you and I and she's not totally against it. Actually, her words were, "If it had to be anybody, I'm glad it's her." So, you don't have to worry about the ex." He glanced over at her, a slight smile on his face, "Is there anybody I might need to watch out for, though?"
Olivia shook her head, "I think Munch and Fin are starting to suspect something, though..."
Elliot shrugged his shoulders, coming to a stop at the red light in front of them. "If they knew they would probably tease us, to no end, but it wouldn't be a problem with them. The Captain might be another story though..."
"Relationships in the work place are frowned upon," she replied with a sigh.
"Yeah," he agreed. "But not all together forbidden. And, while he might not like the fact that we work together and are... involved, it would be strictly professional. In a more personal matter, I don't think he would have a problem with it."
She nodded, she hadn't really been worried about the Captain's reaction, rather his course of action. "Do you think he'll split us up?"
"We're wonderful partners, Liv-- he wouldn't be able to find another person to work so well with me, and vice versa. He knows that. And besides, we've had feelings for each other for a long time, and our work performance hasn't been effected whatsoever. At most, it's become better. Also, something that he knows. He wouldn't jeopardize our case rate because the higher ups frown upon fraternizing."
Feeling a bit relieved she nodded, having already thought as much, but needing the confirmation. "We have to tell him soon, anyway. Just so he doesn't find out from somebody else and we're not forced into confessing when he's pissed off..."
"Yeah," he sighed. "No telling how many Scarry's there are out there."
Olivia smiled lightly, reaching out and placing a hand over one of his. He let the same hand fall off the steering wheel and slid his palm across hers, intertwining their fingers as he drove. Her smile grew and she forced back a shiver wanting to break free. Noticing her inter conflict he looked over at her, grinning broadly. Seeing the look on his face she couldn't control it, and a chill passed down her spine, followed by a non-stoppable shiver. He smiled further and turned to the road, soft chuckles rising in his throat and filling the stale air in the car.
Olivia watched his Adam's apple bob as he laughed, fighting off the urge to shiver yet again. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze and continued on down the road, the wonderful sound still coming from his throat.
Oh yeah... this was nice. This was really nice.
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A/N: Sorry about the wait, I'm having laptop troubles so I'm having to write on my sister's computer... luckily she's never home ;) Anyway, please let me know what you think about this chapter. I live for feedback!