Gregory flicked the light switch on and off in annoyance. "Still out."

Olivia set the pair of candles in her hands down on the coffee table and headed for the hall closet. "There must have been some kind of accident at the power station. Did anyone else have power?"

He tossed his cell phone down next to the candles to save the battery. "Roger and Bette don't have power. Ben said it's out at the Deep, the Java Web the Liberty Building- everything. There's a generator going at the hospital and the medical center and SBPD and the National Guard are wandering the streets."

As he took the lighter from her, Olivia set the armful of candles from the closet down on the coffee table. "Are the kids all right?"

"Sean's flight hasn't left England yet and I suspect they'll just hold him over in LA until our airport has power again." Gregory choose two of the larger decorative candles and lit them on the counters surrounding the living room. "Caitlin's at the Deep. Ben's hosting some kind of 'finish the perishables' party and she's with that DJ from the police ball."

He placed a few more candles and watched the sun setting through the patio doors. "She'll be fine. It's good for her to get out and spend some time with people her age. This Mark may be a DJ and a bartender, but Ben likes him." The kettle whistled in the kitchen and he kept up his train of thought through the doorway as he answered the whistle. "Not that Evans has always been a stellar judge of character. He tends to be more forgiving than I would be, but it's certainly a better reference than being AJ's son."

Gregory set her tea on the table in front of her and continued on to the door. Locking it protectively, he looked out over the dark, empty street before returning to perch on the arm of the sofa.

Olivia touched his knee, smiling over the rim of her cup as she blew across the surface of her tea. "Not sitting down isn't going to make the house any safer."

"I just don't like it-"

"When everything doesn't work exactly like it's supposed to." Olivia rested her head against his leg and smiled as he lowered his hand to stroke her hair. "I know darling. I know." She slid across the sofa, making room for him at her side. "But we're all right. We're safe."

At her pleading smile, he sat down next to her, relieved of some of his anxiety as she curled up in his lap. "I'll just feel better when the power comes back on."

Olivia kissed his neck, dragging a finger down his chin. "Don't you find this romantic? Just the two of us, candles and a incredible night?"

"Indian summer." Gregory corrected softly as he realized how warm her skin was under her hair. "I'm sorry the air conditioning is out."

"Oh don't be." She wrapped her fingers around her cup and slipped closer to his chest. "It was a little cold in here earlier when it was working."

"It hasn't been working since this morning." Gregory corrected as he slipped his hand around to her forehead. He kept it there long enough to confirm his suspicions. Her skin was hot and dry, even in the humidity. "Aren't you hot sweetheart?"

"I'm not hot." Olivia protested in confusion as she sat up and reached out to set down her empty tea cup on the table. "I've been cold since dinner."

He caught her shoulders and replaced his hand on her forehead. "You're hot." Gregory flipped his hand over and double-checked her temperature with the back of his hand. "Liv you have a fever!"

Sighing and pulling her head back, Olivia groaned in frustration and batted his hands away. "So what if I do?"

"Why didn't you say something?" Gregory snapped in frustration as

he jumped to his feet. "You can't keep these things from me. We have to go. Now." He jogged to the closet for his car keys. "Get up."

"Where are we going?" Exasperated and tired, she made no effort to get up off the sofa.

Gregory returned with the keys in his hand. He lowered his hands to her and pulled her to her feet. "To the hospital, we have to get you seen by a doctor. You got dumped in the Pacific that's not something we should have taken so lightly."

Olivia immediately sat back down, refusing to give in to his panic. "I'm not going to the hospital."

"Olivia-"

"I'm not going to the hospital." She repeated as she pulled her hands away from his grasp. "You're not thinking."

"You have a fever and I'm the one not thinking?" He argued as he reached for her shoulders to pull her up again.

Slapping his hand she shook her head firmly. "Gregory, I'm not going."

"Yes you are." He hauled her up roughly but she broke his grip just as cruelly.

"No!" Olivia hit his hand away as he reached for her and this time she saw the flash of pain in his eyes. "You're not dragging me across the city just so I can sit in an emergency room full of panicked, crazy people while you panic and get insane."

"But you're sick." Gregory pointed out as she swayed slightly on her feet.

Olivia knew she couldn't argue that point, but she wasn't going to let him get so carried away. "And I'll be worse if you make me sit in a crowded room half the damn night." She pointed out as she sank back down to the sofa. "Don't you see that? God only knows what the baby and I will get exposed to."

Gregory dropped his car keys back on the shelf and conceded her point. "All right. No emergency room." He reached for his abandoned cell.

Pulling her feet up under her, Olivia watched him punch a number angrily into his phone. "Now who are you calling?"

"Roger." Getting to his feet he crossed to the closet in his study as he waited for Roger to pick up. Returning with a blanket, he tucked it around her.

Olivia sighed in resignation and folded her arms across her chest as she pouted. "I'm not leaving the house."

"Don't look at me like that." He touched her chin and met her eyes apologetically. "I won't take you out of the house. Roger's just going to have to make a house call."

He jumped off the sofa as Roger picked up. "Baxter- what are you up to?" Olivia watched him pace and tried not to listen to his concerned banter. "No, no emergency. Olivia's just running a fever." She pulled up the blanket up to her shoulders and leaned back into the sofa.

Gregory ran his hand across her forehead again, trying to judge how warm she actually was. "She hasn't let me take her temperature, yet." Kissing her forehead, he picked up one of the candles and took the phone upstairs. There had to be a thermometer somewhere, they wouldn't have gotten rid of it since Caitlin and Sean were little.

"She's not burning up but I will feel better if you get a look at her." He moved the towels aside, trying to remember where it had ended up the last time Sean had the flu.

"I know she blew off the three appointments you tried to schedule and I'm not blaming you Baxter." He chuckled softly as Roger complained about her We both know how stubborn she is."

There it was in the back corner of the top shelf in the bathroom closet, sitting in a plastic case behind the box of band-aids with dinosaurs on them. Olivia was too sentimental to have gotten rid of them and he smiled involuntarily. She couldn't have known they'd ever need baby things again but for some reason she'd held on everything.

"We'll see you when you can get here." The phone still had a half-charge. Enough to call Roger back if Olivia got any worse. He tucked the thermometer into his breast pocket and left the bathroom. The living room was still lit by the flickering candles in a circle around her. Olivia reached for him, taking his hand as he settled down next to her.

"Did you convince Roger to drop everything and rush over here?" She asked softly as he touched her cheek.

"He said this whole mess could have been avoided if you would have just gone to your appointment the first time." Gregory pulled the thermometer out of his pocket and set it up with a sterile plastic sleeve. He tucked the thermometer under her tongue and shut her mouth around it. "But you don't have to explain. I've been pushing you pretty hard since Cole died. I'm just so happy to have you safe that I've forgotten what he did to you."

Olivia started to explain but he held her mouth shut. "Two minutes. Then you can tell me everything, but until then you'll just have to listen. I apologize for being so insensitive. Of course you're apprehensive about going back to the hospital. Cole's gone but that doesn't take away what happened." He can still see the bloody stripes across her back in his mind's eye but he hides his fear behind concern.

"And I've been so busy with switching sides in the legal arena that I haven't been paying enough attention to you." He explains softly as he checks his watch for the time.

Shaking her head in disagreement is all she could do until he lets her speak again, but Gregory nodded in response. "Yes, I haven't been. I should have realized you were sick before it got this far."

She lowers her head into his hand, expressing her forgiveness in her eyes. He looked down at his watch and smiled gently. "Forty-five seconds. Guess I should think of everything else I want to say while you can't argue with me."

Her chest shook slightly with laughter and Olivia nodded, her blue eyes gleaming in amusement.

"Remember the last time you ran a fever? About six months ago?" He kept his gaze locked on hers, swallowing before making his confession.

Knitting her forehead up in confusion, Olivia nodded again.

"I did that to you." Gregory cupped her left cheek, feeling the dry heat of her skin. "I used a drug called clomiphene. It's a fertility drug."

She started to open her mouth, but remembered the thermometer and shut it again. He could see her mind working as she pulled away from him. Olivia put her feet back on the floor and straightened up to leave the sofa.

He held out his hand for the thermometer and she handed it to him without a word. Gregory tossed the plastic sleeve into the garbage and read the digital screen. 100.8. "You're up over a hundred, but you've always been above average."

The underhanded compliment caught her off-guard and she couldn't help smiling as she turned to him. "You gave me fertility drugs without my permission or my knowledge?" Olivia rested her hands on her stomach thoughtfully without letting much emotion into her expression. "This really is your fault."

"Now I know you're angry with me." Gregory began sheepishly, as he took a few steps towards her. "But I don't think it's good for you to get upset right now."

Olivia felt his hands settle on her shoulders and she turned around and kissed him, startling him so much that he dropped the thermometer. It clattered on the floor by their feet as she released his lips. "I'm not angry."

"You're not?" Gregory ran his hands down her arms and pulled her back down to the sofa. "Sit down. Why aren't you angry?" He retrieved the pale yellow blanket from the floor and tucked it around her body.

Olivia stopped his fussing as she kissed him again. "Because you're sweet."

It was his turn to shake his head. Gregory found the thermometer beneath the edge of the coffee table. "But I took advantage of you. I violated your privacy. I made you ill-"

She started to laugh as he listed all the points against him and her left arm tugged him back to the sofa. "I still love you."

"You always do." Gregory pointed out as he let herself get comfortable before he lowered his arm over her shoulder. "You could at least yell at me."

"Nah." She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed contentedly as his fingers played with the blanket on her shoulder. "You already feel worse than I'd make you. I just don't understand why you didn't just ask me to take the drugs."

"And you would have told me I was insane." He supposed bitterly as he watched a large candle cast shadows on the opposite wall of the living room. "We were barely on speaking terms when I started giving them to you. I couldn't just walk up to you and suggest that we have another child. You would have laughed in my face."

"Oh I wouldn't dare." She teased lightly but they both knew better. "I've wanted another child since Sean was little. You knew that."

Olivia felt his chest flatten as he sighed out his frustration with himself. "I didn't believe it. I'd been so horrible to you, why would you ever consider carrying my child?"

"I love you. That's just something you'll have to get used to." Olivia groaned as he moved her aside to get up.

"I'll be back in a second." Gregory promised as he disappeared into the kitchen. When he returned, he knelt on the floor in front of her, resting his cool hand against her fevered cheek. "Why? Why is it always so easy for you to forgive me?"

"Because it takes too much energy not to love you." Olivia explained as she opened her eyes slowly. "I don't mind having your baby. I'm actually rather flattered that you went to such extreme measures. It's sweet that you wanted a child so much."

Gregory shook his head, amazed that she could still surprise him. "You should be angry."

"You shouldn't worry so much." She sighed as he squeezed her shoulders closer affectionately. "I'm fine. The baby's-"

He smiled softly as she yawned.

"Fine." Olivia finished. "And we love you. Especially when you get all stirred up and overprotective."

"I thought that was annoying." Gregory replied with a smirk as he got up for the shrieking tea kettle and returned with a fresh cup. "Weren't you the one who called me overbearing?"

She sat up to kiss his cheek. "Overbearing can be endearing when I'm tired, cold and achy."

"So I'm allowed to be overbearing when it suits you?" He wondered with an raised eyebrow.

Giggling slightly as she took her tea from his hand, Olivia nodded to her husband. "Now you're starting to get it."

Gregory realized he was trapped. "How do I know when it's expected and when it's annoying?"

She took a sip and grinned wickedly as she hid a yawn behind her hand. "You're the brilliant District Attorney. You'll figure it out."