The snow was falling softly in the street while Liv and Melinda walked to her car.
"So, you and Elliot?" Melinda asked as soon as they were alone.
"You're really not one for beating around the bush, are you?" Liv asked with a raised eyebrow. Melinda just smiled at her, "yeah, I let that slip didn't I? You didn't seem very surprised though." Melinda didn't say anything at all, which got Liv's gears turning, "how long have you known about us?" Liv asked incredulously. Mel just gave her another winning smile and unlocked the car.
Liv was still standing on the sidewalk when Mel rolled down the window,
"Come on, Liv. Get in the car before you get buried." Liv shook the snow out of her hair and got in the car,
"Have you-"
"Don't worry, I haven't said a word to anyone. Now, where am I headed?"
"My place."
Mel dropped her off at the curb,
"You're going to be okay?"
"Yes. Thanks Mel," Liv said sincerely.
"Night," she said before driving away.
Liv let herself into her apartment and couldn't help but smile at the sight before her: Elliot had tried to be romantic. He'd set up a nice dinner with candles and flowers, and, from the take out container she could see sticking out of the garbage can, he'd picked up her favourite. But the candles had gone out, the dinner was cold, and Elliot was passed out on the couch. Quietly she took off her coat, toed off her boots and tiptoed over to the couch.
"Elliot," she whispered, kissing him softly, "Elliot."
"Ungh," he mumbled, blinking, "hey you, how'd it go?"
"Oh, it went," she sat down next to him. "How was your flight?"
"Annoying. Had this kid with a big forehead kicking the back of my seat the whole time," he said, his voice still pretty thick with sleep.
"Yeah, they'll do that," she laughed at him, before passing another glance at her dinner, "mind if I heat this up? Thanks for getting it for me," she said with another kiss before getting up. He managed to mumble a "you're welcome" before passing out again.
Liv sat munching on her orange chicken with broccoli next to a slightly snoring Elliot, the TV on low. It reminded her of their first few weeks living together, when he'd crashed on her couch during his apartment search. He'd never actually found a place of his own though. Instead he'd just gone from sleeping on her couch to sleeping with her.
Her eyes drifted from the screen and across the collection of picture frames on the nearby table. The number of photos grew the longer Elliot stayed at her place. The number of photos that included her had grown too, which warmed her. She especially liked the one of her, Elliot, and the twins in the park laughing; they looked like such a happy family in the shot.
Soon she ran out of food and readied herself for bed. With a serious amount of effort (pulling) she managed to convince Elliot to come to bed with her. The pair of them collapsed into bed and only at the last minute did she remember that she'd left the dress in the front hallway.
Sighing she got out of bed and padded her way back to the bag. The dress looked so innocuous, lying in a puddle of itself in the bottom of the bag. But while wearing it she'd managed to get more attention than she'd ever really wanted, especially from her coworkers. Rubbing her temple she thought about the several weeks of jibes and cracks ahead of her. Cragen wouldn't even look at her, which was worse. And she didn't even want to think about what could have happened in the alley…Maybe dressing up hadn't been such a good idea…
She was almost to her closet when his voice startled her.
"What's in the bag?"
"Huh? Oh, it's the dress I wore tonight," she said, trying to hide it in the back of the closet.
"Can I see it?" he asked. Swallowing her sigh she pulled it out of the bag and hung it from her hands. He blinked and got out of bed. He took the dress in his hands. "Can you put it on for me?" he asked. He definitely did not sound tired anymore. The fire now burning in his eyes was contagious and she kissed him. She slipped the dress from his hands as they continued to kiss, moving them towards the bathroom. He wouldn't stop kissing her when she got there, so she had to wrench herself free and then slam the door in his face.
"Do you want me to wear it or not?" she asked, leaning against the door.
"Right now I'm not sure," he answered honestly, the passion he was feeling radiating heat through the door. She pushed herself off the door and dropped her clothes. She heard him pad back to bed as she adjusted her bra. A quick play with her hair and she was ready.
She stepped out of the bathroom and she could feel his eyes on her, roaming all over her body. She took a few steps towards him before giving a slow twirl. But she didn't have the same feeling of overexposure that she'd had before. Now she only felt sexy as hell. And as she crawled over him on the bed all the negatives fell away.
"You look so hot in that dress," was the last thing he said before devouring her.