From now on, any comments that are cruel or rude about Trevor or Elliot will just be deleted. Stay kind, please 3
"I promise that as soon as we leave, we can go and play catch," Liv promised Noah. "Mom just left her ipad in her office, we're only stopping in for a quick visit."
"Okaaaaayyyy," Noah agreed, adjusting his little backpack on his shoulder as they entered the 16th precinct. The squad room was busy, Fin and Rollins were out on a job but Carisi was at his desk.
"Hey boss!" he called before setting his eyes on Noah. "Yoooooo, what's up, kiddo!"
Noah smiled to see Carisi, "hi uncle Sonny!" he greeted him happily. Carisi held his arms out and gave Olivia's son a bear hug and picked him up, lifting him high. "How are you? Got your glove?" he nodded toward the pitching glove that the little boy was wearing. "Mom taking you out to play catch?"
"After I pick up my ipad," Olivia replied rolling her eyes. "How are you guys going today?" she asked.
"Good boss, getting through my paperwork…"
"Thanks," she smiled at him. "Noah, you stay with Uncle Sonny for a minute and then we can go, okay?" Noah seemed pretty happy balanced on Sonny's hip.
While Olivia was getting her things, a woman walked in to the workspace and looked around as if she was wondering if she was in the right place. "Hi, can I help you?" Carisi asked, not being able to ignore the long, pair of legs from beneath a very, very short skirt.
"Hi, I'm Chelsea Firello, the Junior DA from Queens… I actually need to talk to one of your detectives about a case involving Viktor Sanchez…" she stuck her hand out and allowed Carisi to shake it.
Sonny looked down at Noah, "Carisi," he replied, "sure, can you give us a minute?" he nodded to the six year old. Chelsea smiled. "Of course, you are so cute, little man!"
Noah just stared at her. Sonny took him in to Olivia's office. "We've got Chelsea Firello here from Queens, she says she is the junior DA…."
Olivia stared at Carisi for a moment until the name registered. "Oh, right… yeah I know who she is… could you send her in?" she really wasn't in the mood for dealing with any work things, she had only just managed to catch up on all the sleep she had missed out on.
"Mommmmmmm…." Noah groaned in protest, "you said no workkkk..."
"Noah, I am sorry honey, I promise it'll just take a minute-" she replied, "we aren't staying," she added.
He pouted. "I thought you wanted to play ball with me…" he sighed.
"Mom will only be a second, I promise I won't let her take longer," Sonny flashed him a smile, he could tell by his boss's black active tights and oversized grey knit that she really wasn't planning on sticking around for too long. "Why don't you come with me and we can get something from the vending machine and I we can go in to the break room and you can tell me about how your baseball is going…"
Noah seemed to be satisfied with that.
Chelsea clicked her way in to Olivia's office and smiled to see her. "Hi Olivia, wow I never thought I'd see the day you were in casual-wear!" she grinned. "Or as I like to call it, I-don't-care-wear," she held the smile for longer than natural and Olivia immediately picked up on the bitch vibe.
Chelsea was doing a bad job of trying to hide her bitchiness, Olivia thought but she didn't really care.
The blonde's long legs seemed to go for days, stemming from the short black skirt she was wearing. Olivia couldn't help but to judge despite not ever wanting to be the type of person who discriminated or slut-shamed.
But for the sake of professionalism, if she had a staff member turn up in something like what the girl before her was wearing, she would have sent her home to put something else on.
"Hi Chelsea, how pleasant it is to see you… take a seat."
"Oh by the way Olivia, you are a real sneak!" she exclaimed.
Olivia was confused, "I'm sorry, what?" She sat in her own desk chair as Chelsea lowered herself down, crossing her legs.
"Pretending you weren't interested in Trevor Langan!" she added, tossing her hair over her shoulder with a laugh. "You tried to throw me off scent."
Olivia raised her eyebrow and realized immediately why this young woman had turned her bitch mode up, "What are you talking about?"
"I saw you both leaving his room the next morning, turns out he and I were staying in the same hotel… you were walking down the hall and he was so in to you, don't you remember?" she asked with a little chuckle, "I was checking out and he had you up against the wall making out with you, I mean, I'm jealous but I don't blame you…"
Olivia pinched the bridge of her nose for a second, her body was awash with immediate regret and guilt. "Did you tell anyone about that?" she asked, feeling sick to her stomach.
"Maybe?" she smirked, and Olivia immediately knew that Chelsea was behind the circulating information. "I mean, you did try to trick me… I just wanted to know if it was a thing that everyone knew, you and Langan…"
Olivia groaned knowing that this little upstart had purposely spread gossip to get her back for lying to her. "Great… thanks for that Chelsea… maybe you need to grow up and do your job and stop getting involved in people's personal lives. Can you please see yourself out?"
"Oh," she shrugged, seeming nonplussed by Olivia's irritation. "I need help with a case."
"Not from me you don't. Detective Tutuola will be here tomorrow and can catch you up to speed, it's my day off, I need to spend some time with my son," she motioned to the door that was still open, feeling a rush of panic and anger for all that she had put Trevor through.
Chelsea stood up despite trying to protest but Olivia walked directly behind her, not stopping until she was standing around everyone else's desks outside of her office. "Tomorrow," Olivia said again. "Fin can help you."
"I need to know now…" she said, firmly.
"Well then go and speak to Organised Crime, they have the files." She didn't give her another chance to protest. Olivia went to the break room to find Carisi and Noah playing a game of catch, both of them pausing to eat from a bag of M&Ms.
Olivia smiled. "Okay honey, I'm done… are you ready to go to the park?"
Noah looked up and smiled, relieved that his Mom had kept her promise.
"Thanks Sonny," Olivia said gratefully, "Watch out for that DA she's nuts…" she added.
Noah opened up his backpack and shoved his glove in there. "Sonny can you play ball with me one day?" Noah asked. She hated it when he did that, she knew he craved a male figure in his life and Liv hated that she was unable to provide it.
"Sure thing, kiddo, anytime you want, you just get Mom to organize it with me," he replied. He picked up the remaining bag of M&Ms, "here you go, take these with you for a treat."
Noah looked to Olivia for permission. She made a show of sighing, "Okay, but take it easy on them…." She looked to Sonny, "Thank you for that…"
He smiled and gave her a wave as they left the precinct bound for central park.
Noah held Olivia's hand as they walked along slowly, looking for an open area for them to be able to play a game of catch. He let go of her hand, stopping in his tracks. "Trevor!" he cried out loudly. Olivia whirled around, looking to see where her son was pointing.
She glanced over to a jungle gym where Noah was pointing, "Look Mommy there's Trevor, can we go and say hello?" he didn't wait for an answer, he took off from the path, running over to greet his mother's friend.
"Noah!" Olivia called out, shocked by her sons actions.
She wasn't ready to face Trevor, she was still busy processing what had happened back at the station; also, Noah knew better than to run away.
Trevor noticed the little boy making a beeline for him and despite the frustration and hurt he felt from Olivia, he wasn't going to be rude or cruel to the little boy. He seemed so happy to see him.
"Noah!" Olivia called again, following him begrudgingly. Once she caught up with him, she called him back, "Noah, listen to me!" she rose her voice, putting some reproach in it.
Trevor tried not to smile as he looked away. There she was, Olivia Benson in all her gorgeous glory, he thought. As much as he didn't want to acknowledge it; she looked good in a pair of gym tights and an oversized sweater. It showed off her thick thighs and all of her womanly curves that he had revered the night that they shared together back in Chicago.
Finally, right before he was about to interrupt Trevor, Olivia caught up with him and grabbed his arm. "Noah Benson!" she stopped him, "I am talking to you! Don't you ignore me!" she meant business.
He turned around as if only just hearing his mother. He looked immediately sorry. "I just wanted to say hello…" he said softly.
"You don't run off on me like that, you got it?" she replied, her voice softening. He really did just want to greet Olivia's friend. "You know better."
"Hi Noah," Trevor said to her son, ignoring her.
"Hello," he said sullenly, hating that he got in to trouble. He turned back to his mother, "Sorry Mommy,"
"Its okay my love," she replied, putting an arm around him. "Go on, go say hello…" she was a little breathless, but she felt bad for being so mad at him; half of it was on her, for her shame and her guilt.
She held back a little. She was feeling a little sheepish and foolish for immediately assuming he'd gone around big-noting himself. Noah stepped in to the rubber and woodchip area of the playground. Olivia realized that Trevor was there pushing his daughter on the swing.
She smiled to herself, noticing how gorgeous his daughter was. She was a tiny little replica of him. She had huge blue eyes and mousey brown hair. For such tiny thing, her she had amazing facial structure and the cutest little nose. Olivia still managed to find herself getting clucky over small children.
"Hi Olivia," Trevor waved civilly.
She waved back, saying nothing. She watched Trevor introduce Noah to his daughter. She couldn't help but to smile to herself, watching Noah trying to engage a toddler in conversation. He was a sweet boy. She couldn't quite catch their conversation, but she watched Noah take Trevor's place, slowly pushing the small girl on the swing.
Liv looked around behind her and took a seat on the dry grass, clearly Noah wasn't expecting to leave the jungle gym any time soon. She made sure she was close enough to keep her eye on him.
Trevor started making his way over to Liv. She knew it was inevitable; better to just get it over with. "Hello," he greeted her again; his tone was even. He didn't try to touch her or make any physical contact.
"Hi…" her voice trailed off. He was holding a large disposable coffee cup in his hands. "Nice to see Noah again," he told her.
"He is pretty excited about you…" she replied.
Trevor smiled at her. He motioned to the expanse of grass beside her, "Can I sit for a second?" She nodded.
He got settled behind her, placing his coffee cup down on the other side of him.
"Liv, I'm just gonna say it once for the road, but I really didn't say anything about us… I really wanted to go and confront Elliot but-"
"It wasn't Elliot," she said firmly, "but I know now that it wasn't you and I'm sorry… for acting so irrationally."
He did a double take. Her eyes lowered with guilt. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Who was it?"
"It was our friend Chelsea Firello… she saw us leaving your hotel room to go check out of mine and get my things the morning after the conference… she figured I'd lied to her and told me with a smirk on her face that she'd told others…"
"Oh…" Trevor murmured.
"So I owe you a big apology…" she sighed, "I just thought that-"
"I know what you thought, Olivia, but I have to be honest, it really hurt that you thought that I could do something like that… why would I tell people we slept together? We didn't…"
"I know and I'm sorry…" she repeated, "I only found out this morning, like… less than an hour ago, I even confronted Elliot too, on the off chance he did it…" she found the courage to glance at Trevor. He looked so serious. He was annoyed, she knew that much.
"Olivia, you were looking to find something wrong with me," Trevor informed her, studying her profile. He was still sad that she had been so quick to judge his character without ever giving her any reason to distrust him. "You wanted me to fuck up so that you could feel justified for not fully trusting me, but I never expected everything from you, I know you've been through a lot and I know trust takes time, but you purposely hung on to this one thing and you wanted to believe I did it…so then you were justified in running away."
"Can you stop…" she said softly, not baring to be able to look at him.
She could feel his stare burning in to her; his jawline was hardened by his hurt and she could tell that he was trying not to give in. That was the problem with Trevor, he seemed to know her without ever having been a first hand witness to the things that she had gone through.
"I can't do this anymore Trevor, I have so much shit going on in my head right now and despite what you think, I didn't want it to be true, I desperately wanted you to be different. I didn't want to be hurt but I was… I have been absolutely broken up about this for over a week and I missed you but I didn't want to be a fool…"
There was some silence between them as they both collected their thoughts and feelings. "I promised Noah I'd play catch with him… I should go…" she spoke up, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden.
"See…" he sighed. He couldn't help but to feel like she was always looking for an out. He wanted her to fight for him, for her to like him as much as he liked her. "there you go again, running away…again" He nodded toward the jungle gym and watched Noah mock-chasing Eloise.
"Trevor," she face in her hands; frustrated with herself and also with him for not cutting her a break, "you have no idea how hard I'm trying here…"
He considered her words and fell silent. He concentrated on the kids and smiled ever-so-briefly to see how gentle her son was with her daughter. "They look like they're doing just fine, Noah doesn't seem too worried that he's not playing catch for the moment."
"I just get the feeling I'm not your favorite person right now and I get that," she replied, "but I don't know what to tell you except for that I'm sorry." She added, "but I also don't know if I can sit here and allow you to make me feel worse than I already do."
"I don't want to make you feel bad," he said simply and honestly. He really wasn't looking to complicate her life further. "Olivia, I like you," he said bluntly, "I'm hurt that you believed that I would intentionally set out to embarrass you, but I understand why you jumped to that conclusion…" his voice trailed off, "but forget that… just be real with me for a moment."
She wondered how he could still be so sweet to her after she had been such an asshole to him. She remembered how blindingly angry she had been when he turned up at her apartment begging for him to hear her out.
"I like you," he said again, "And I didn't realize just how deep my feelings were until you refused to talk to me or see me again… I thought we were on our way to something really special."
"Me too," she murmured.
He outstretched his hand between them, his palm up, facing the dreary sky. She glanced at him, watching a little hint of a smile creep over his lovely pink lips that she had missed kissing.
She slowly reached for his hand, entwining her fingers through his. "I like you too…" she added. "A lot…"
She let relief fill her up as he squeezed her hand.
"I want to kiss you but I'm very aware that we both have our darling children close by…"
Olivia chuckled, but his words made her suddenly focus on her son and Trevor's daughter. She looked down to find Noah spinning Eloise on the merry-go-round just slowly so that she didn't fall or get upset. "Noah is going to be a great pal to Eloise," Trevor remarked, "he is so kind to her, look at that…"
Noah looked up and smiled and waved at them both. "Noah loves you," she told Trevor, "he hasn't stopped talking about you, as you can imagine that was fun for me to hear for the past week…"
Trevor laughed and she was grateful that he saw the humor in that.
He inched closer to her so that they almost touched. He let go of her hand and put an arm around her shoulder. "I want to introduce you to my daughter now that you're here… are you comfortable with that?"
She nodded slowly; unsure. "I'm really frightened of this whole thing, I know you already know that, but… I'm flighty."
He nodded understandingly. "I get that and I'm even okay with that, but… just trust that I'm not ever going to do anything that would soil your reputation or try to make you look bad… I know falling in love or having feelings or … even talking about all that hard stuff is made more difficult for you, Liv, but all I'm asking is that you just stop running."
"Okay," she cleared her throat. "You still want to be around me even though I acted like a grade A psycho?" she asked him, allowing him to finally look in to her eyes.
His eyes crinkled at the sides as his lips folded in to a smile. "Jeez I missed those eyes…" he said, he couldn't help himself, he knew their kids were just a short distance away but he didn't care and he really hoped Liv didn't either.
He took her cheek in his large hand and caressed her soft skin with his thumb. "I definitely still want to be around you, my feelings haven't changed or tempered with time…"
She reached up, covering his hand with hers. She wanted to tell him that she felt the same but sometimes she couldn't quite push the right words from her mouth and she was afraid of her words sounding insincere or obligated.
She turned her cheek and kissed his palm.
"Can I kiss you?" he asked politely.
"The kids might see…" she remarked, a little smile spreading across her mouth.
"Is that okay?" he wondered, asking the question slowly, his eyes sweeping across her face until they settled upon her lips.
She thought for a moment as her eyes searched his. She remembered how Noah told her that he knew Trevor had a crush on her. She nodded slowly. "Yeah fuck it, just kiss me…"
He chuckled and leaned closer and rested his lips motionless against hers for just a moment longer than she expected; he pressed them down a little harder, relishing the softness of of hers. She kissed him back, pushing her mouth against his, before pulling away, very aware of the children playing.
"Sorry," he said in an almost whisper, "I have coffee breath…"
Olivia smiled at him, feeling smitten all over again.
"Mmm coffee…" she murmured.
"Mommy…" she looked up, quickly breaking free of Trevor. Noah was looking from one to the other with a cheeky smile. He was holding Eloise's hand. He let go and Eloise ran at her Dad who had opened his arms to her.
"Yes my love?"
"Mommy I saw you kiss Trevor…" he told her almost sheepishly. Olivia heard Trevor chuckle to himself as Olivia's cheeks flushed red.
"Well…. yes, maybe you did…" she scratched behind her ear, embarrassed, "but maybe you shouldn't be such a sneak," she winked at him playfully. She reached for his hand and pulled him in to her lap.
"Trevor how old is Eloise?" he asked his Mom's friend, not seeming very interested in his who his mother was kissing.
"I am this many!" Eloise replied, tucking her thumb in and showing Noah four fingers.
"Actually," Trevor corrected her, tucking down her pinky finger, "you are this many…" he smiled at her and kissed her forehead.
"Mommy, can I have another brother or sister one day?" he asked Olivia. She smiled at herself and noticed Trevor looking away with a grin. She knew what he was thinking but she wasn't about to get ahead of herself.
"I don't know, kiddo… one day maybe, but right now you might have to settle for playing with Eloise."
"El," Trevor prompted his daughter, "this is Daddy's friend, Olivia, can you say hello?"
"Hello!" Eloise waved at her. Olivia couldn't help but to smile at the little girl who wore a little denim pinafore over a pink tshirt. She wore sneakers that lit up every time she took a step with some crazy pink shoe-laces.
"I like your shoes, they are fun!" Olivia remarked.
"Yeah!" Eloise agreed, climbing off her father to stand up. She stomped up and down a few times, "Look," she told Olivia, looking at her own shoes, "they have special magic in them."
"Oh wow, they are super cool! How fun are Eloise's shoes, Noah?" Olivia prompted her son.
"Cool!" Noah replied, a little less interested. "Mommy are we gonna play catch?" he asked, remembering their reason for coming to the park.
"Sure honey, I I promise that we would play catch…"
"Can Trevor and Eloise come and play catch too?" he asked, encircling his arms around Olivia's neck, hopeful.
"If Trevor and Eloise would like to come that's fine, but they might like to stay on the jungle gym…"
She looked at the gentle giant that sat beside her in his own jeans and casual grey t-shirt. She was felt happy that things seemed to smooth out naturally between them. "Daddy, I don't want to play catch, I want to play on the jungle gym."
"Okay," Trevor held up his hand, "how about this, how about we play catch for a little while with Noah and Olivia because Noah played very nicely with you on the jungle gym and it's nice to compromise, remember? Daddy explained that to you…"
She stared at her father and Olivia went to tell him it was fine but Eloise seemed to relent. "Okay," she agreed.
"Thank you my princess," he smiled at her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed her Dad. It warmed Olivia to witness how patient he was with her too, quite frankly, it made her insides feel a little funny.
"Afterwards maybe we can take Olivia and Noah to get some ice cream, what do you think about that?"
"Or coffee…" Olivia muttered.
Trevor laughed. "Here…" he passed her his half-full coffee cup. "It's luke-warm, but it's a double shot if you're really jonesing."
"You don't want it?" she asked.
"I'm happy to sacrifice my coffee for you," he flashed her a wink as he got to his feet, carrying his daughter with him. Noah hopped off Olivia. Trevor outstretched his hand, helping Olivia to her feet.
"Are you good at baseball, Trevor? Mom isn't very good at pitching…" Noah remarked.
"Hey!" Olivia exclaimed, "Noah!"
"I am much better at baseball than Mom," Trevor told him, nudging Olivia in the side playfully. "Come on, let's go find a nice bit of area to play so that we don't bother anyone…" he suggested.
Noah ran ahead excitedly.
"Thanks for doing this…" Olivia said to him. "I know Noah can be a lot."
"Don't be crazy, he's a really sweet kid." It meant a lot to her that he brushed off her gratitude. Noah was a short distance ahead of them, scoping out the park as they moved further off the path to a nice green space at the bottom of a rolling hill.
Olivia almost audibly groaned at the idea of having hike back up it. "I try to do all the stuff like catch and … baseball or whatever thing he's in to at the time, but I'm not a man and I know he enjoys having guy time—but I want you to know that it's not your responsibility—"
"Olivia?" Trevor began in a casual voice.
"Yeah?"
"Do you ever shut up?" he let a smile cross his lips as he looked back at her. "Let me play catch with your son and just stop apologizing or trying to reason everything…" he turned to Eloise, "okay I'm gonna put you down now so we can play catch with Noah."
"I don't wanna…" she said quietly, focusing on her Dad's shirt, pulling at a thread on it.
"Okay, do you want to stay with Olivia? While Daddy plays for a little while."
The toddler glanced at Olivia for a moment. Olivia smiled warmly at her. "Can we look for bugs?" she asked as if considering her options carefully.
Trevor laughed when Olivia glanced him squeamishly. "Really?" she asked her, "you wanna look for bugs?"
Eloise nodded. "And squirrels… I like them they're cute, Daddy said we can't get one as a pet yet, but maybe when I'm older…"
Olivia stifled a little chuckle. "Okay sure, we can do that and let the boys play their boring catch game…" Eloise held out her arms to Olivia. Olivia took her, overcome briefly with the maternal feeling of holding a small child in her arms again.
"Noah, I'm going to take Eloise to look for some squirrels, are you happy to play catch with Trevor?" she asked knowing that he would delight in the chance to play one-on-one with a man in the same way that he did with Sonny and Fin.
He nodded. "But you're not going to work today right?" he asked, double checking.
"No honey, I told you, no work for a few days…"
"Okay," he agreed.
"Be good and you do as Trevor tells you, we aren't going far, so I'll have my eye on you."
Trevor gave his daughter a similar speech before kissing both Eloise and Liv. He loved that Liv was immediately comfortable with her, he didn't doubt that she would be and appreciated the organic way in which they'd met up, it took a lot of stress away from the situation.
Trevor couldn't help but let his mind creep to a future with Olivia as he watched his daughter curl against her shoulder, her head tucked warmly beneath Olivia's chin. Eloise was close to sleep and he knew it.
It had been a big day for his daughter. She kept Olivia on her feet looking for bugs and other nature; a new obsession she had come home from his mother's house with. He could only imagine what their conversations had been.
Noah was tired too; Trevor could sense that by the fact that he was starting to walk slower back toward the street. "How are you going?" he asked Liv, "do you want me to take her?" she had a slight smile on her mouth.
"No, I'm enjoying this… I miss when Noah was this small and this cuddly, I only get the scraps of his affection these days." She turned to her son who was starting to drag behind. Trevor glanced behind them too.
"Hey Noah?" he called. Noah looked up.
"Yeah?"
"How would you like a piggy back," he offered, knowing Noah was more likely to agree to that than being picked up and carried like a baby.
"Yeah! Mommy could I?"
"I don't know," Olivia said to her, "could you?" she winked at him. They paused and Trevor crouched, motioning for him to come on over. Noah climbed on his back and held on to his shoulders as.
"You got it? You hooked on?" he asked Noah.
"Yes!" he giggled as Trevor raised himself up, standing up straight. "Be careful, don't let go, it's a long way down…" he teased.
Olivia smiled at her son and gave her boyf- no, she stopped herself. Her man? It was too early, she thought… what was he to her? She gave him an appreciative look.
"Okay so… since we've had such a lovely afternoon, the four of us… why don't we go back to my place since we're close and I can cook dinner for you guys?" he suggested.
Olivia wanted that so much. "Mmm Noah can be really picky," she told him.
Trevor shrugged hearing Noah protest behind him. She smiled at her son. "I'm sorry kiddo, but its true…" she ruffled her sons curls and could tell he was sleepy, he didn't try to flinch from her.
"I have a three-year-old," Trevor reminded her, "Today she doesn't like things that are red on her plate and last week she didn't care for the banana being mashed and insisted on it being sliced because it tasted different. I think I can handle a kid's meal."
"Okay," she agreed. "Only if you think you can handle the coming together of our two little family's." she said lightly and breezily as if it was no big deal to her.
But it was a big deal.
Rather than freaking out, she was rolling with it.
"Elly is asleep…" he remarked, nodding toward her daughter. "Do you want me to take her?" he offered again.
"No, its alright… we're nearly there," she replied, shifting the little girl to her other hip. She was getting heavy, but it sure beat having to carry Noah around. As they walked side-by-side, Trevor's hand brushed against hers. He linked his pinky with her own and eventually slipped the rest of his fingers in between hers.
Olivia wasn't going to lie; they felt like a real couple… and she was relieved that after a week of going to bed crying over the lost cause and constant betrayal, that it had worked out.
"I think Noah is just about asleep…" she whispered to him, watching her son rest his cheek against Trevor's shoulder blade. "You actually made him so tired that the kid needs to nap," she laughed.
"Oh, if he lets go of me he might fall…" he remarked. "Noah, buddy…" he crouched down again. Noah opened up his eyes, startled.
"Hop off me for a second, okay?"
"Awww…" he was about to complain but the look Olivia gave him made him think twice.
"Its okay," Trevor soothed him, "I know you're too tired to walk, it's alright, I just don't want you to fall… here…" he lifted him up with ease and carried him. Noah didn't even bother to protest but rather put an arm around Trevor's neck and closed his eyes again.
"Thank you… you're … so great with him, it means a lot to me."
Trevor smiled at Olivia, feeling happy with her; content that whatever had been a problem between them had now passed and the ease between them was back. His affections for her had grown in the time since he'd seen her last. He'd missed her smile, her eyes, her jokes – even her sweet self-conscious side.
"You are great…" he winked, nudging her gently.
They shared a smile. Olivia longed to feel his arms around her again.
She couldn't help but to find sexiness in his casual wear; it was always his reading glasses that topped it off for her – that and the rugged scruffiness of the short beard that lined his cheeks and around his mouth. She loved when he buried his face in to the crook of her neck, his three-day-growth tickled and scratched her in a way that felt masculine and sexy…
She really, really wanted to have sex with him.
"So when do you officially start your job with the DA?" Olivia asked him, trying to shake the dirty thoughts from her mind.
"Next week," he replied, "Monday… and guess who I have to work with?"
Olivia stared at him for a moment before laughing and looking ahead, "You're kidding?"
"There was a reason I didn't go and confront Elliot about the rumor of us, I found out that afternoon that I'll be working on a case for them… help me…"
Olivia couldn't help but to feel amused. "You poor thing, he is going to hate working with you… I actually saw him yesterday."
"Oh?" Trevor wondered if they'd made up, he suspected that she might be more inclined to hear him out and give him a chance if he wasn't around.
"Yeah, the Sanchez case has come back up and he genuinely seemed like he wanted help… it's a long story and it was 4:30 in the morning and I was too exhausted to fight with him so I wanted to help, dumb idea," she explained slowly, "We got in to it again; he can't help himself. You came up, we yelled at each other in his squad room and I cried out of furiousness and I told him to get someone else to help him with it…."
"Oh, I'm sorry…" he murmured, "that must have been rough."
"I know I was mad at you, but I wasn't going to sit there and let him bad mouth you about the Sanchez case, it's not your fault he got off… but Elliot was under cover for 3 years trying to work another angle, apparently he was tied up in some type of syndicate too."
"Right…" he murmured and Olivia could see that he was bothered by the news. "Thank you for defending me, but you don't have to. I'm sure he's going to cop it to me when I start…"
Olivia nodded, agreeing, she knew Elliot would make it his business to give him a hard time about it and also because he was always jealous of any other men in her life. If he hadn't changed, she knew that would be the stem of the issue.
They came up to Trevor's front stoop. She waited for him to open the door. He motioned for her to go inside first.
"Here…" he nodded toward the family room, "Elly's got a little couch she lays on for naps…" he told her, leading the way past her to the family room. There was a baby sized sofa chair.
Trevor placed Noah down on the couch gently to let him sleep. He scooped up his daughter so Olivia didn't have to crouch to try to place her down on her sofa.
While he put her down, Olivia took off Noah's shoes so that he didn't mark it which she couldn't help but to notice was stained already by little child sized hand prints and food marks.
"It's alright about his shoes, Liv…" Trevor smiled, passing her, letting his hand graze her waist as he went to retrieve a throw blanket from the arm chair in the corner of the room. He put it over Noah and went to grab another from the top of a toy box beside it. It was a small version with a couple of teddy bears embroidered on to it. He spread it out over his daughter and took Olivia's hand, "come on… let's go sit down in the other room and let the kids sleep…"