Note-Yes, I changed the title of the story. I didn't really like the other one. And I also changed the rating, just to be safe.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I am posting this chapter in honor of the premiere of the new season of SVU – Yay! And in celebration of Mariska Hargitay's Emmy nomination for best leading actress in a drama series. Sucks that she didn't win, but we'll get them next year!
Reviewers: nem-I didn't answer your review last time, sorry. I was too excited with posting my chapter. Anyway, the kid, Greg Reid, was from Betrayal In The First Degree. Remember, they were interviewing him about Emma's case and he grabbed Olivia and she kind of attacked him? That's what that was all about. AglaiaWar-I know, not a lot of fluff, sorry. It's kind of half and half in this chapter. I'll make the next one totally OE. LuckyDucky20-I think I see a shirtless Elliot coming up in your future… (Next chapter, I promise ;) Lizzie9-Thanks for all the great reviews! I love them!
Disclaimers-1)The ideas and theories of Dr. William Aultz are not those of my own. (Seriously, if he wasn't just some ficitonal character I made up, I'd shoot him myself.) 2)I just made up the stuff about Elliot's family. Ignore it if it's totally wrong.
How Dreadful Knowledge of The Truth Can Be When There's No Help In Truth
"So Dr. Aultz, you said you had a date with Karissa Perry last Wednesday?" Olivia casually leaned back in the hard wooden chair as she crossed her legs and began aimlessly flipping through the folder containing all the information they'd gathered on the Perry case.
"Yes, but I told you, that's all I'm saying." William Aultz's hazel eyes calmly glanced the detective over, showing no hint of intimidation. His subtly manicured hands rested against the cold metal table in the middle of the interrogation room, occasionally moving to his head as he ran his fingers through his gelled auburn hair that hung perfectly, just above his ears. The crisp white dress shirt he wore underneath it only intensified the glowing tan on his face, appearing to be the work of a nap in a tanning bed.
Even as Elliot propped himself against the section of the wall directly behind Aultz, he could hear the arrogance in his voice and egotistical nature of his coolness towards Olivia. He crossed his arms and silently observed, wanting to get a better reading on this guy before they dove into the serious questioning tactics.
"Dr. Aultz," Olivia mustered up her most polite smile and sincerest voice as she leaned in towards the table. "We would really appreciate any information that you could give us concerning that night that might help along our investigation."
"You never did tell me," he replied with a smug grin that sent an unnerving chill through Olivia. "What exactly are you investigating?"
Already becoming tired of the man's antics, Elliot stood over him and lowered his head down over Aultz's shoulder to the point that his chin was almost resting on it. "That's official police business," he hissed into the man's ear. "So why don't you just let us ask the questions?" He domineeringly pulled his head back a few inches and waited for a reply.
Aultz just gracefully turned to face him, the smug grin never fleeing from his lips. "All right. You can ask me all the questions you want, but don't be so assured I'll answer them," he retorted, meeting Elliot's stare with his own. Elliot broke their glares and turned to Olivia after a minute, giving her a shrug with his eyes and indicating for her to try and get him to talk.
"Okay, let's start with where you two met." Olivia slipped into habit and began tapping her pencil against the notepad on the table in front of her.
"Let's not." He turned his head to the side with a demeaning look in his eyes as he began to use his own intimidation tactics to try and belittle Olivia. She, however, wasn't having any of it.
"Well, since you seem to be a little less than forth-coming," she shot his own glare back at him, "how about I tell you what we know and see if you can't help me fill anything in?" She spoke like she was talking to an incompetent inferior of hers, seeming to agitate the placid doctor.
"Feel free." He turned his palms up and swept them to the side, trying to redeem his poise.
"Eight o'clock last Wednesday," she began, referring to her notepad. "You had an appointment, but canceled it at the last minute. Coincidentally enough, Karissa also had a date in her appointment book for dinner with someone named 'Billy' at the same time. Now, we couldn't tie you to her before, but since you so willingly offered up that bit of info," her eyes flashed in spite as she wiped the smug look of his face and started to gain one on hers, "we can now put you two together. Anyway, after you rushed out of the office, you headed over to Karissa's apartment. About eight-twenty, the Chinese takeout you two ordered arrived. But see, that's where things start to get blurry."
"Well, not too blurry." Elliot yanked the third, unoccupied chair out from under the table and spun it around so that the back was against the table. He spread his legs out and straddled the seat as he sat down. "You and Karissa eat, start talking, all the normal stuff…" He faded out, letting Olivia finish.
"Then you-"
"All right! All right." He interrupted Olivia and held up his hand to silence her. "I'll answer your questions if you just stop with this circus." Aultz uncomfortably adjusted the collar and shifted around in his chair.
"Why didn't you answer our questions to begin with Willy?" Olivia started, not moving from her position as she slightly taunted him with the nickname.
"Because I shouldn't have been at Karissa's in the first place." Aultz sighed unemotionally and unbuttoned one of his cuff links. He started talking as he began rolling his sleeve up. "I've been dating this other girl for a year now, Karissa was a…" Slightly throwing his hands up, he searched the room for the right word.
"Booty call?" Elliot answered for him, crossing his arms against the back of the chair. The corner of William's lip turned up in a smirk as he turned and faced Elliot's scrutinizing stare.
He shrugged, seeming to be relishing every moment of this interview. "If that's what they're calling it these days."
"Actually, these days they call it rape." Olivia picked up her pencil and twirled it between both of her hands.
"Rape?" Olivia felt a small wave of nausea pass over her as his smirk widened into a huge smile. "Ah…" His face obtained a look of understanding as he nodded. "So that's what you're investigating, a rape?"
"Tell the man what he's won," Olivia remarked, glaring at him as she moved forward and rested her elbows against the table.
"Oh, that's not necessary," he waved her comment off. "But, you can tell me what's going on that you so desperately need me for." Aultz stared into her eyes in an almost flirtatious manner.
"Only thing we need you for is a DNA sample," she shot right back, never missing a beat. "Though, our ADA may be willing to cut you a deal if you just confess now."
"Look little lady-"
"Detective Benson," she interrupted him. "It's Detective Benson," she pointed to herself, "and Detective Stabler," she pointed to Elliot. "Or sir and ma'am," she shrugged indifferently, knowing just what to say to aggravate him. "Your choice."
"Detective Benson," he slightly mocked her, "just what is it you're accusing me of?"
Olivia studied him for a moment, deciding whether or not to tell him. "Rape and attempted murder."
Her allegations didn't appear to daunt the man as he sat back in his chair, searching her face for a moment. "Let me make this clear," he started, pointing a finger at her. "I have never attempted to murder anyone and well, putting aside the fact that rape is a completely preposterous concept in the first place, I've never done that either."
"Then tell us what happened at Karissa Perry's apartment!" Elliot found his voice escalating as he suddenly jumped in. "Because if you don't, DNA and fingerprints will."
For the first time since Aultz had been brought in, he finally seemed to take a threat seriously, crossing his eyes at the detective. "All right. Since this station seems to be full of bumbling imbeciles, I suppose I'll have to tell you everything."
"Why don't you start with after you went into Karissa's apartment," Elliot suggested with the hint of a smile on his face as he stared at Aultz.
"Fine. As you know, we had a date set up. I showed up and she invited me in. We began eating and talking, then things started heating up. We started kissing and enjoying each other. Then we had sex. Once I was finished, I started to leave when suddenly Karissa attacked me for no reason. She began clawing at me and screaming."
"She attacked you for absolutely no reason?" Elliot raised a doubtful eyebrow. "Now why would she do that?"
"I don't know," he shrugged emotionlessly. "Maybe she didn't like it, maybe she had regrets. Her actions are not mine to figure out. Anyway, I had to defend myself somehow. So I picked up the closest thing I could reach, a vase. It happened to be behind her though, so when I brought it up to hit her, it hit the back of her head. She instantly passed out and fell to the floor. Just as I was about to check on her, I heard the front door open and her husband start to call for her. So I ran and jumped out the closest window, got into my car, and drove home."
"You just knocked a woman unconscious after she attacked you and you just go home?"
"Yes."
"Why did you run away when the husband came home?" Elliot decided to try and find something to trip him up on.
"Because then he would have known that Karissa was having an affair. I decided to spare the troubled girl at least her marriage."
"How generous," he remarked. "Is that also why you didn't press charges?"
"One in the same," Aultz mused. "So as you can plainly see, I never tried to hurt Karissa. It was merely self-defense."
Elliot was stuck. This creep had an answer for everything. Now the skin under Karissa's fingernails, the fact that the blow was to the back of the head, and the semen in her would only go toward proving Aultz's story.
"What did you mean before, when you said the rape was a preposterous concept?" There was curiosity written all over Olivia's face as she leaned forward and referred to the comment he had made earlier.
"It's fairly simple Detective Benson. Rape is completely nonexistent, just a law that some female judge passed to demean the entire basis of equality between genders. Tell me, what do you define rape as?" He propped his elbow against the table and rested his chin in his open palm.
"Any act in which one person forces unwanted sexual acts onto another person against their will." She was quick to answer him, giving the most general definition she could think of.
"There are so many things wrong with that sentence that I'm not sure where to start." He sighed and shook his head in a reproaching fashion. "Just assuming that because of your gender, you probably are more sympathetic to the female 'victims,' as you call them-"
"You know Billy, you really shouldn't assume anything," Olivia interrupted him. "You'll make an ass out of you and me."
"How humorous," he remarked in false amusement. "And how incredibly juvenile. And they say cops are supposed to protect people, what a crock. But, all idiocies set aside, you shouldn't interrupt me if you honestly want to know my opinion." The doctor paused for a moment, Olivia's silence reassuring him that he'd have a quiet audience now. "As I was saying, you probably investigate hundreds of women's 'rapes,'" he actually made quotations in the air with his two fingers as he said the last word. "The cold hard truth is, though, that no woman is ever raped. Well, not by your terminology at the least. You claim that it includes 'unwanted sex acts,' and that was your slip-up. When in fact, no sex acts are ever unwanted by a woman."
He hesitated with a grin as he found the detective in front of him angrily spell-bound by his speech. She tried to hide it, but he could see her face hardening in fury with each word he spoke. "Because you appear slightly confused, I'll elaborate. Humans, by nature, enjoy sex. Whether or not people believe it, it's just an instinctual truth. Over the years though, society has told women that sex is now some big, intimate ordeal only to be shared with your spouse after marriage. It's no longer for reproduction and recreation; it's the ultimate wedding gift, as they commonly refer to it. So women stifle their primal, innate sense to conform, but deep down, that desire is always there. Any sexual act is never truly unwanted. It is thanks to your laws and restrictions that even make it punishable."
"If they're not unwanted, then why do we have millions of women reporting rapes a year?" Olivia slipped her hands in her lap and clasped them together, trying to stop them from shaking as she resisted the urge to lunge across the table and throw her gun into this guy's face.
"As I've said before, women's intents are not mine to question. Maybe she didn't enjoy it, maybe her partner couldn't perform, maybe she couldn't, maybe she wants revenge for some other wrongdoing, and the possibilities are endless from there. And besides, if there actually existed a case in which a woman truly didn't want to have sex with a man, I'm sure she's quite capable of defending herself and escaping from him. After all, what kind of weak, pathetic, shell of a human can't stop them self from being violated like that?"
As he finished, Aultz brought his other elbow on the table. Weaving his fingers together, he laid his arms down against the table, resting his hands only a few inches away from where Olivia sat.
Olivia desperately tried not to show her true emotions as she calmly rose to her feet, her eyes wearily locked onto Aultz's arms. "I think we have everything we need," she announced in an empty voice.
Elliot snapped back into reality by the sound of her voice. He'd been revoltingly engrossed by the doctor's explanation. Looking towards his partner, he was able to immediately see the effect his words had on her.
"Let's go." Olivia waited until Elliot had stood up right behind her before she was even willing to turn her back to the doctor. As she reached for the doorknob to exit, his voice cut through the air again.
"Tell me Miss Benson," William had a pleased grin on his face as they both slowly turned to face him, Olivia's eyes hardened in anger. "If two gauche detectives think that a woman was raped, yet they have absolutely no evidence to prove their outlandish theory, did a crime still take place?" Elliot listened to him, then turned to his partner and waited for her reply.
"Without a doubt," was her cold answer. Without another word, she left the room with Elliot behind her.
"Liv?" As he closed the door behind him, he failed to notice as Olivia sprinted down the hallway, away from the room. "Liv!" Just as Elliot was about to chase after her, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Cragen standing behind the one way, a sullen look on his face as he shook his head. He'd heard the entire thing.
"Elliot, just let her go."
--XXX--
"Olivia?" Elliot pressed the intercom button to Olivia's apartment again and leaned closer as he repeated her name for the second time. "Come on Liv, it's Elliot." He released his finger and moved his ear towards the speaker as he waited for a reply. When the other end was silent, he sighed and shifted the plastic takeout bag in his hand to the opposite one. "I have Chinese," he tried to tempt her, bracing himself against the cold.
After questioning Aultz, she'd immediately left the station, telling Munch and Fin that she was going home because she didn't feel well. But he knew the real truth.
"Look, I know you're up there." A minute passed before he tried again. "Hey Queen of Stubbornness!" He called, using her own description of herself. "I can do this all day and you know it!" That impending threat seemed to work as Elliot heard her buzz him in. An unsure expression settled on his face as he pushed open the door and stepped inside. It was a matter of seconds before he arrived in front of her door, a view he grown accustomed to over the years.
"Liv?" Elliot tried to shrug the coldness off him as he softly knocked on her door and called to her. The Chinese food in his hands felt like it was becoming increasingly heavy with each moment that slowly ticked by. "Liv, please open the door," he decided to plead with her. He knew that what Aultz had said in the interrogation room had gotten under her skin, resurfacing supposedly repressed memories of her attack. And reliving that night wasn't something that he wanted her to have to suffer through on her own. He wanted to be there for her, to give her a shoulder to lean on. Just as he was about to call out for her again, he heard the familiar noise of locks clicking.
"What?" Suddenly Olivia appeared in the doorway wearing crimson red pajama bottoms and a plain white camisole that dipped just below her neck, a clear look of agitation on her face.
"I brought takeout." He held his arm straight up and gave a small smile, showing her the bag like some peace offering.
"I'm not hungry," she shook her head apathetically and turned back around, disappearing into her apartment. Olivia didn't bother closing the door behind her, knowing that Elliot would follow her inside.
Talking to anyone, especially Elliot, was the last thing she wanted to do right now. She just wanted to curl herself into a little ball and shut off the entire world, even if only for a few minutes. Instead, she leaned her right hip up against the back of her couch, crossing her arms and watching Elliot with vexation. The sooner he talked, she reasoned, the sooner he'll go away and leave me alone.
"What do you want Elliot?" Olivia slid one of her folded arms up to her ear and pushed her hair behind it.
"I want to make sure you're okay," he shrugged and gave her a weak answer, moving towards the kitchen table to set the food down.
"I'm fine. Are we done now?" She closed her eyes and began rubbing the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger.
Elliot failed to hear her question as he pushed back a pile of books on the table to make room for the plastic bag. "Olivia, what's this?" Noticing a case folder sticking out from the bottom of the pile on her kitchen table, he turned his head and moved closer to study it. The letters "ENSO" were all he could make out at first. Before Olivia even knew what he was doing, Elliot pulled the folder out and read the name on the flap aloud. "Benson, Olivia." He glanced up at his partner in confusion. "This is your case file." He held it up for her to see.
Olivia guiltily turned her head away, not meeting his stare. "I know," she whispered.
"So why do you have it?" It took him only a minute before he was able to put two and two together. "You wanted to see if there was anything you could have done to stop the guy that attacked you." He read her mind like a book, locking his strict eyes on hers as he tossed the folder back onto the table. "This is about what Aultz said, isn't it?" Olivia just met his implicating stare with dull, emotionless eyes, signaling that he was right. "Olivia, you know this-" He subtly reached his hand out to pull her into an embrace, but she shifted away and interrupted him.
"Don't touch me," she ordered coldly, her eyes turning icy as she continued to back away from Elliot. "And don't you dare tell me that there was nothing I could have done to prevent it!"
"But there wasn't! Why do you have to blame yourself?" He demanded in a pleading voice, walking closer towards Olivia.
"You don't understand…" She released a frustrated scoff and silently clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, looking up to the side to try and dry her eyes.
"So talk to me! Explain it. Make me understand!" Elliot desperately urged her.
"You want me to talk? Fine." Olivia finally crumbled underneath the pressure. Lowering her head to the ground, she shuffled her feet forward and circled to the front of the couch. She let her knees give way beneath her, dropping her onto the far end of the sofa. Elliot observed wordlessly as Olivia drew her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her shins. When she remained silent, Elliot made his way towards her, sitting on the opposite end of the couch. Finally, she started speaking.
"Elliot, you can never understand." Just as he was about to open his mouth and argue, Olivia shook her head and stopped him. "You wanted me to talk, so just listen until I'm done."
Elliot nodded, though Olivia wasn't looking at him. Her eyes were glued to the floor in front of her as she sat completely curled up. Clumsily, she cleared her throat and brought one of her heads up to cup her forehead.
"I know that you think you know how I feel, how all rape victims feel. But the truth is that you have absolutely no idea. It's not your fault, but you can't even begin to imagine what's going on inside my head. This has completely changed my life. I'm just… I'm so tired…" For the first time in awhile, Elliot actually saw it. There were bags under her eyes and she just looked so lifeless, so depleted, like this had robbed her of all her energy. Olivia moved her hand from her forehead and began motioning in the air with it as she began her real confession.
"I hardly ever sleep anymore. Every time I close my eyes it's like I'm flown back to the night I was attacked. Even if I do manage to actually get to sleep, I have nightmares all the time. For the first week I couldn't sleep without waking up screaming.
"I used to be strong and composed, all the time. Now I jump at the slightest noise, the slightest touch. I've become so paranoid; I check all the locks on all the doors and windows almost every time I leave a room. In fact, I can't remember the last time I slept with a window open, like someone is going to jump up five stories and crawl through it." A rueful smile crossed her lips.
"I can't eat, I can't step foot into my bedroom without my gun… I can't even walk down the street without having an anxiety attack. I don't even remember what it's like not to be scared, to be able to trust even the smallest things.
"So yeah," she suddenly shrugged, never meeting Elliot's eye the entire time. "I do blame myself for not being able to stop it. I do feel like I have to carry around that responsibility now. Sure, it was someone else that attacked me, but what does he get out of all of this? Ten years at Rikers and he never has to think about what he did to me ever again. But me, I don't get that luxury. I'm stuck with this the rest of my life.
"So go ahead and tell me that it's not my fault, that I couldn't have stopped it. I already know that. I try to convince myself of it, but all the big speeches in the world can't change what I think, what I feel."
As she finished, Elliot just sat with a blank stare, stunned at everything he'd just heard. He had known that this was still affecting her, but not like that. Sure, those were the textbook symptoms of almost every rape victim, but he just assumed Olivia would be different. As strong as she was, as independent and self-sufficient, he didn't think it would have overwhelmed her as much. But he was completely wrong. She was only human after all. He of all people knew that her tough exterior wall was just protection so that she couldn't possibly be hurt by anymore obstacles life threw at her. His mouth gaped open as Elliot searched his brain for something comforting to offer her. He couldn't think of a thing.
When she was finished, Olivia let her vision remained focused on the carpeting in front of her as she waited for a response from Elliot. The seconds seemed to tick by like hours as neither one of them made a sound. When he didn't instantly start up with some big, consoling speech, a lump gathered in Olivia's throat. At first she thought that it was regret for saying all that to Elliot, but then the truth hit her.
She felt vulnerable. She, Olivia Benson, felt vulnerable. For one of the first times in her life, she willingly poured out everything her heart and soul was feeling, to someone that she really cared about. No longer were there any walls or any blockades to shield her true feelings with. Just her raw, uncensored emotions left hanging between them.
"Liv…" Elliot barely managed to choke out her name in a whisper as he slowly stretched his hand towards Olivia so that he wouldn't startle her. His hand hadn't reached halfway there when Olivia turned to the side and fell against his chest, leaning her forehead against his collarbone. Without hesitation, he slid his arms over her elbows and settled them against the middle of her back. "I'm sorry," Elliot suddenly whispered, so soft that he could barely hear himself.
She quietly shifted and turned her face to the left so her ear was against his body. "For what?" Olivia inquired as she gently rested her hand on his chest, right next to her head.
"For insisting that you talk to me." Elliot stared down into her hair, looking over the brown hue speckled by a few tawny strands. He reached one of his hands up and ran it down the back of her head until it settled back to its original position. "It wasn't my place to push you like that."
"El…" He felt her shake her head as much as her situation would allow. "It's all right," she tried to reassure him.
"No, it's not," he reiterated adamantly. "It's not all right." Elliot took a deep breath, forgetting about Olivia until he noticed her moving with the rise of his chest. He carefully assembled his next few sentences, making sure he had exactly what he wanted say planned out. "I don't mean to constantly badger you like that, I just… I don't want you to push me away. And I don't want you to think that you have to go through this on your own, because I'll be there for you every step of the way. No matter what Liv, I'm always here for you."
Olivia didn't speak for a moment. Instead, she braced her hand against the couch and leaned backwards so that she was facing Elliot. A contemplative expression read on her as her eyes professionally scanned back and forth across Elliot's face. After a moment, a smile broke out on her face and she raised her hand. Tracing her fingers across his cheek, she wrapped her palm around the side of his neck, right below his ear. Leaning forward and slightly drawing Elliot towards her at the same time, she closed her eyes and pressed her lips against his. She tantalizingly let them linger for a few seconds before finally pulling back.
Elliot's closed eyes quickly fluttered open as she sat back, a pleased grin spreading on his face. "What was that for?" His palms were now resting on her hips, his arms stretched out as far as they could reach.
"For being you," Olivia flashed her own beautiful smile at him.
"Then I think I should be me more often," he joked, wrapping his arms around her lower back and in the same instance luring her closer to him. Olivia just chuckled, allowing Elliot to pull her as close to him as he wanted. Once there was about a foot of space between them, Elliot slowly stopped as her gaze entranced him. The two just affectionately locked eyes, neither breaking the bond until a strange look settled on Olivia's face. She quickly turned her head to the side and brought a hand in front of her mouth as yawned.
When Elliot chuckled, she turned back around with an inquisitive grin. "What?"
"You're cute when you yawn." Olivia just rolled her eyes, keeping her smile. "What?" Elliot laughed at her reaction. "You are!" He playfully insisted, lowering the leg that he'd been holding on his lap for the past few minutes. "And you look completely exhausted," he raised an eyebrow at her before turning around and grabbing the pillow sitting next to him on the couch. He held it in front of Olivia's face, more than subtly hinting at something.
"Yeah, yeah." She forced a growl and mock animosity as she playfully jerked the pillow out of his grasp. "Mr. I-can-work-with-barely-three-hours-of-sleep-a-night." Olivia unsuccessfully tried to suppress a grin as she mocked him, only making the smile on Elliot's face even wider. "I get it." She tossed the pillow down into his lap and just as she was about to lie down, another yawn escaped her. Olivia just groaned and stretched her legs out behind her as she finally set her head down against the pillow, facing away from Elliot.
Normally, Elliot would have objected to someone sleeping on his lap, but he didn't have the power to contradict the woman he loved, especially when she looked so peaceful and gorgeous as she did then. He merely placed his arm over hers, his palm lying against the back of her hand. She responded by twisting her wrist around and wiggling her fingers in between his until they were completely intertwined.
Just as Elliot started thinking about how she had laid down without any arguing, his thoughts were thrown back in his face. "I'm not tired," Olivia wearily objected, staring straight ahead in the direction of the blank screen on her TV.
"Of course not, because people always yawn when they're wide awake," he concluded sarcastically, bringing his free hand up to curve the hair lying on her cheek behind her ear.
"Don't mock me," she ordered with a laugh, curling her arm closer around Elliot's.
"Okay, if you won't sleep, then what do you propose we do?" He set his other arm on Olivia's pillow, right above her head.
"Talk," she informed him without a second's hesitation.
"I can talk," he shrugged. "What about?"
"You."
"Me?" He asked in clarification as his brow furrowed in confusion. After a minute, a knowing grin spread on his lips. "You're still hung up on my personal life, aren't you?"
"Just a little," he heard the smile in her voice.
"All right," he sighed teasingly. "Fair enough. Let's see…" He chewed on his lip as he thoughtfully wondered where to start. "Well, I grew up here in a small house with my mom and dad. She worked at a little salon just down the street and he worked as a mechanic and occasionally did other small, odd construction jobs." Elliot couldn't help but get lost in his flashback with a smile as he began remembering his childhood. "While they worked I went to school. I was actually pretty smart before I hit sixth grade. Then again, I suppose coloring in the lines isn't all that hard." As he was about to continue, he suddenly felt Olivia's fingers fall slack in his hand. Frowning, he leaned forward so that he could see her face. He had to bite his lip to stifle a laugh as he realized Olivia had quietly fallen asleep during his story.
And that is exactly why I don't talk about myself more often, he thought jokingly as he shook his head. Wrapping his hand back around Olivia's, he gently ran his other one over the contours of her cheek. "Night Liv," he whispered, unable to stop himself from leaning back and allowing his eyes to slip shut as well.