AN: It's been so long, I know. I've just been busy with work and scholarship applications etc. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter; it is really short, just a scene honestly, but I wanted to give you all something to read. If you've been here since the beginning you mean so much to me! Thank you all for waiting so patiently (and for the reviews that came in during my unintentional hiatus), read on.

ps: I was on hiatus for an entire summer, this is just like the real show :) Hire me NBC.

Chapter 12 – Five More Minutes

It's not often that Olivia wakes up comfortably, and so when she does, it's a particularly lovely treat. As she begins to stir on the morning after Thanksgiving, her partially awake brain registers her surroundings slowly, piece by piece. First, she becomes aware of Elliot's arm around her midsection, his hand just slipped under the hem of her shirt so that she can feel his warm skin against hers. Then, it's the stubborn, still-lingering scent of the cologne that Elliot saved for special occasions, a pleasant mix of cedar and apple. Next, it's the movement of Elliot's chest against her back, then the evenness of his breathing, and his legs entangled in hers. Olivia tries to remember it all, to freeze the moment so that on another day when Elliot isn't here, she'll be able to recall all of these small things and find comfort in them.

She wants to fall back asleep. She doesn't want to move or alter the moment, even in the slightest. But her brain is waking up, however slowly, and after a few minutes, she knows that she might as well open her eyes. And so begrudgingly, she does just that, blinking at the sunlight filtering in through the blinds.

Now that she is fully awake, the comfort she'd felt just a few minutes is starting to melt away; her legs filled with lactic acid from their cramped position are starting to nag her. She wiggles a little, intending to stand up, but Elliot's grip on her waist tightens.

"Fivemoreminutes," he seems to mutter, his eyes still closed, fluttering beneath his lids as if he's in a dream. Olivia feels a smile appear on her face and she turns as slowly as she can, straightening her legs and coming face to face with Elliot.

He's attractive, even in sleep. Olivia's eyes trace slowly over the features that she'd learned over the past few years. The intense brow, the slightly-pointed ears, the shadow of a beard that she didn't often get to see. Her eyes fall on his lips. She'd kissed them last night, for the very first time, and even though she knew that that had been a very big deal and something they'd have to discuss, all she could think about right at this moment was how nice it would be to get to kiss him again.

She raises a hand to his face, tracing over a jaw that seemed almost too soft for the face it was on. The logistics of having kissed Elliot, the questions it posed – that was a problem for later. In the dim sunlight, her face just inches away from a man that she'd had on her mind for so long, Olivia didn't care about much of anything. She just knew how she felt. And right now, she felt like kissing Elliot.

She leans in slightly, her lips just a few centimeters away from Elliot's. But just as her eyes close, she remembers:

She hadn't yet brushed her teeth.

And it's almost funny, that this small detail is what pulls her away. She opens her eyes, taking one last look at Elliot's sleeping face before managing to pull herself out of his arms and stand.

She goes to the bathroom first, washing up and of course, brushing her teeth. She tries her hardest to keep her hands busy, as not to give herself too much time to think, but as each minute passes, reality sets in a little more, and by the time she dries her hands off, the nice bubble she'd been in just a few minutes ago had popped. It was morning, and Elliot wasn't hers to kiss.

After leaving the bathroom, Olivia checks in on each of the children. None of them are awake yet, and when she steps into the kitchen, she sees that it's only half-past eight. Taking a breath, she grabs a glass and fills it at the sink before taking a small sip. Elliot isn't near her now, but he's still in her mind. Unfortunately, so are all the reasons why they can't be together. He was Kathy's ex-husband. If they got together and broke up, the kids would be crushed, and she'd lose him as a friend. And he'd hurt her, outside the bar the other night. He'd been trying to apologize last night, she knew, but she hadn't been really listening. And she knew it wasn't fair of her, but she was still upset about it, deep down.

But that didn't mean that her crush on him had completely disappeared. That's all it was really, right? A crush.

She leans back against the counter and lets her mind wander. Pushing the doubts to the back of her mind, she thinks of Elliot tilting her head up, tries to feel his lips on hers again. She allows herself to wonder, just for a minute, what could have happened if they hadn't been so tired. She imagines the feeling of Elliot's mouth on her neck and her heart pounds inside her chest.

"Liv," interrupts a deep voice, still gravely from sleep. It startles her, and as her eyes snap open, she almost drops her glass. Elliot steps in to steady her hands.

"Sorry," he says, catching her eye. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay," Olivia says, glancing away, afraid that the color of her cheeks will give her thoughts away. She sets her glass on the counter before turning back to Elliot, who looks concerned.

"Are you still tired?" he asks, wringing his hands. They'd been damp when he touched Olivia. He must have just come from washing up in the bathroom. "We can go back and lay down."

"No," Olivia says, her cheeks definitely flushed now from his use of the word "we." "I was just thinking."

"Oh," Elliot says casually. He reaches up next to Olivia and grabs his own glass. "About last night?"

It takes Olivia a moment to respond. When Elliot finishes filling his glass with water and looks back at her, she's conveniently playing with a thread at her shirt's hem.

"Yeah," she says eventually, gaining the courage to raise her eyes to Elliot's. He's smiling, but she can tell that he's nervous.

"We did kiss, didn't we?" Elliot asks slowly. Olivia finally smiles, nodding with a small chuckle. "I didn't imagine it or anything?"

"Yeah, we did," Olivia confirms. Elliot steps in a little closer, and she swears she can feel her heart beating in her ears.

"Good," he says. "Otherwise that question would have been really embarrassing."

Olivia doesn't know what to say next. Half of her brain tells her to say that last night didn't need to change anything. And the other half wanted to tell Elliot that she hadn't been able to get him off of her mind for even a second this morning. Elliot appears to be waiting, and so she opens her mouth, not sure which side of her mind she's going to listen to, but then Elliot interrupts.

"What happened at the bar," he says. "I mentioned it last night. But I need you to know how sorry I am."

"I know," Olivia begins, but Elliot shakes his head slightly and continues.

"Olivia, what I said was unfair. And it was stupid of me to even bring that up. I don't want you to feel like you can't talk to me. There's no excuse for that."

He means what he says. Olivia can see it in his face. She watches him set his glass down and run a hand through his short hair.

"It's just—" he begins, his face folded in concentration. "It made me so angry, to see Brian touching all over you like he was. He's my friend, I know, but that night I wanted to punch him straight in the mouth." He meets Olivia's eyes, continuing.

"You don't deserve to be with a guy who mistreats you. Not Brian, not Jonathan, not me. Because you're the best person in the world. I mean, you're caring. And you're patient. With the kids, and with me. You listen. You're there for people when they need you. You put everyone else first. You make people laugh. You get things done. And you're gorgeous, I mean, Olivia, you're the most beautiful person I've ever met and the idea of someone treating you like that burns me up—"

Olivia steps in now, standing on her toes and slipping her arms around Elliot's neck before pressing her lips to Elliot's with as much purpose as she can. She kisses him slowly, trying to ignore the feeling of all of her nerves lighting up at once, and he kisses back, his hands going around her waist. She pulls back after a second, but Elliot holds onto her waist, keeping her pressed to him.

"When you said—" Olivia says, catching her breath, her voice barely above a whisper. "When you said what you did, I felt like you were blaming me..."

"I wasn't," Elliot says. "I would never. I was stupid and jealous and out of line, but I would never blame you for something like that."

Olivia turns these words over in her head for a moment, then looks up at Elliot, eyebrows raised.

"Jealous?"

It's Elliot's turn to blush now. His cheeks turn rosy as he nods slightly.

"Yes, jealous," Elliot says, not seeming to want to expound up this. Olivia doesn't mind though. She doesn't want to stop and think for too long, lest her doubts and everything else come back from their place in the back of her mind. She does manage to say a few words, though, before she leans back in to capture Elliot's lips in her own once more.

"There was never a reason for you to be jealous."